Haryana: OP Dhankar appointed new chief of BJP state unit

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday appointed O P Dhankar as the party chief of the state unit. Dhankar, a senior party leader, was a cabinet minister in

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday appointed O P Dhankar as the party chief of the state unit. Dhankar, a senior party leader, was a cabinet minister in the previous BJP government in the state. Dhankar replaces Subash Barala.

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The appointment of Dhankar is being viewed as a move to give adequate representation to the Jat community in the state leadership as it is the dominant caste in the state, said sources within the party. The previous state unit chief, Barala, is also from the Jat community.

The party in a statement on Sunday said that Dhankar’s appointment was made by BJP chief JP Nadda.

Although Barala has completed tenure eight months earlier, the appointment of a new BJP state chief was delayed as the party was searching for a suitable candidate. Senior leaders such as Captain Abhimanyu, Krishan Pal Gurjar, Sandeep Joshi and others were also in the fray for the position, said sources in the party. However, Dhankar’s experience, work as a ground-level farmer leader and his caste identity tilted scales in his favour, they added.

Raman Malik, BJP spokesperson, Haryana, said that the appointment of Dhankar will galvanize the party’s rank and file as he has vast experience as a leader of the youth and the farmers. “He is an aggressive leader who knows the state’s politics and issues of the people deeply. This will help the organisation ,” said Malik.

Notably, both Dhankar and Barala had lost their seats in the assembly polls held in October 2019.

A party leader, who wished to remain anonymous, said that Dhankar had recently been appointed as the national coordinator for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Statue of Unity project in Gujarat. A former teacher who is from Jhajjar district, Dhankar started his career as a political worker in 1978. Between 1980 and 1996, he worked with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and honed his skills in student politics. In 1996, he joined the BJP formally and was appointed as the national secretary. He was given the charge of head of BJP Kissan Morcha between 2011 and 2015. He also served as a cabinet minister in the BJP government in Haryana from 2014 to 2019.