With a focus on the upcoming assembly elections, the BJP on Tuesday appointed Rajya Sabha member Satish Poonia as the Punjab affairs in-charge. A day before, the party named the 61-year-old leader among its eight national general secretaries.
A former Rajasthan BJP president and Rajya Sabha member, Poonia is credited with helping the party retain power in Haryana as the state in-charge in 2023, despite the odds. Senior leaders said Poonia is known for reading the riot act as well as giving a patient hearing to disgruntled leaders.
In Punjab as well, Poonia faces a huge challenge as the party is currently suffering from an unprecedented crisis, with its old senior leadership miffed over the functioning of the present state leadership and openly revolting against the party’s decision to replace six district presidents within 13 days of their appointment.
Poonia isn’t new to the state’s affairs. The party had appointed him as an observer for Punjab affairs last month. Interestingly, when the six district presidents, who were later replaced, were originally appointed along with 10 other district presidents, Poonia was part of the deliberations along with several senior state leaders from all factions.
Poonia was also part of the meeting chaired by national president Nitin Nabin last week, in which strict instructions were issued to state BJP chief Kewal Dhillon and state organisation secretary Manthari Shrinivasullu to quell factionalism and take everyone along.
{{/usCountry}}Poonia was also part of the meeting chaired by national president Nitin Nabin last week, in which strict instructions were issued to state BJP chief Kewal Dhillon and state organisation secretary Manthari Shrinivasullu to quell factionalism and take everyone along.
{{/usCountry}}Another major challenge before Poonia would be to strike a balance between the old guards and the new entrants. The old guards are miffed over the new entrants being given excessive exposure in the name of expanding the party. “The choice of Poonia also reflects the central leadership’s preference for a leader who does not belong to any of the competing factions in Punjab BJP,” said a senior BJP leader.
It is after a gap of more than one year that the Punjab BJP has got a state affairs in-charge. Previous state affairs in-charge and former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani passed away in an air crash in Ahmedabad in June 2025.
It is not clear if the party’s co-in-charge, Narinder Singh Raina, will continue in his role in Punjab, as the party has not made any appointment of a co-in-charge for the state.
Undercurrent in favour of BJP in Punjab: Poonia
There is an undercurrent in favour of the BJP in Punjab, Poonia said as he thanked the party leadership for entrusting him with a challenging state like Punjab. Poonia cited the example of Tripura, saying that the BJP had broken stereotypes in many places where it originally did not have a political base.
“The party came into power (for the first time) in West Bengal, defeated the AAP to reclaim Delhi after many years, also returned to power in Maharashtra and achieved a good mandate to remain in power in Bihar,” he said.
Targeting AAP, he said the trust that was given to the people of Punjab has been broken. “The people of Punjab now see the BJP as an alternative,” he said.