Tawde is BJP in-charge in Bihar

Another party leader Prakash Javadekar has been appointed in-charge of Kerala, a year after his ouster from the union cabinet in July last year

Mumbai Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national general secretary Vinod Tawde’s appointment as in-charge of party affairs in Bihar is seen as an elevation of the leader who was once sidelined in state politics. His Maharashtra colleague and party’s OBC face Pankaja Munde however failed to get any key responsibility in the internal reshuffle the party initiated this week.

In November 2020, Tawde was appointed in-charge of Haryana while Munde was made co-in-charge of Madhya Pradesh (Satyabrata Tripathy/HT Photo)

While Tawde has been shifted to Bihar from Haryana, Munde, who is national secretary, has been retained as co-in-charge of Madhya Pradesh. Another party leader Prakash Javadekar has been appointed in-charge of Kerala, a year after his ouster from the union cabinet in July last year.

Tawde and Munde were sidelined towards the end of the BJP-led government’s tenure during 2014-19. Though both were ministers in Fandavis government, the duo was divested of a few departments – medical, education and water conservation respectively -- they held after initial years of the government. Later during the Assembly polls in 2019, Tawde was denied the ticket from Borivali Assembly constituency he represented, while Munde lost the election her constituency, Parli, in Beed district.

In November 2020, Tawde was appointed in-charge of Haryana while Munde was made co-in-charge of Madhya Pradesh.

“Tawde has been given a major responsibility of strengthening the party after chief minister Nitish Kumar snapped ties with it. He had shouldered many important tasks including coordination of the Har Ghar Tiranga drive, coordination for the 144 Lok Sabha constituencies identified across the country to strengthen the party’s position, Operation Ganga which brought Indian students back from Ukraine, among others. He also played a key role in picking new chief ministers in Tripura and Uttarakhand recently and was co-convenor for the presidential election. The new responsibility of Bihar comes after all these responsibilities were accomplished by the leader,” said a BJP leader and former state minister.

Mumbai-based political analyst Hemant Desai said, “It is a huge elevation for Tawde as Bihar assumes importance for the party in the recent political developments there. It needs to be taken into account that Devendra Fandavis was made election in-charge during the Assembly polls two years ago. Tawde has also proved that patience pays as he remained silent after he was denied the Assembly ticket in 2019. He did not utter a single word against the leadership.”

Both Tawde and Munde were not available for their comments.