BJP shuffles pack with new chiefs for 4 states

New appointments are expected in several other states where the terms of the presidents are over and in those where BJP wants to reboot its 2024 strategy.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday appointed new state presidents in four states, including poll-bound Telangana in what is seen as the first wave of organisational changes ahead of key state elections later this year and the national elections in 2024, with more changes in the organisation, and even a reshuffle of the Union Cabinet, expected in coming days.

A Bharatiya Janta Party worker erecting BJP flags, in Jammu. (Nitin Kanotra / Hindustan Times)

Among the changes announced on Tuesday, Union minister G Kishen Reddy has been appointed the president of the state unit in Telangana, while Etela Rajender has been given charge of the election management committee. In Punjab, Ashwani Sharma has been replaced by Sunil Jhakhar, a former Congressman and state unit chief, who joined the BJP in March 2022, following a public showdown over being overlooked for the position of Punjab CM. Former minister in the UPA government, D Purandeshwari, was appointed as the president of the Andhra Pradesh unit, where the BJP has been aggressively pushing for expanding its footprint. She replaces Somu Veeraju. And in Jharkhand, where the BJP has been struggling to put together a team after it lost the last assembly election, former CM Babulal Marandi was appointed as president.

New appointments are expected in several other states where the terms of the presidents are over and in those where the party wants to reboot its strategy for the Lok Sabha polls. Changes are also expected in Karnataka, where state unit president Nalin Kateel resigned after the BJP lost the state elections, and in Haryana where the party’s alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has come under a cloud following the protest by the wrestlers, which is perceived to have alienated the dominant Jat community in the state.

Reddy’s appointment indicates that a rejig in the Union council of ministers is on the cards. There has been speculation that ahead of the 2024 general elections there be will new faces inducted in the union council of ministers, to balance caste and regional aspirations. “The last reshuffle was in 2021. The party also follows the practice of giving younger and newer faces a chance so that new leadership emerges,” said a senior party functionary in Delhi who asked not to be named.

Telangana

Reddy replaces Bandi Sanjay Kumar, who seemed to have lost the confidence of some state leaders, and whose controversial utterances often ended up embarrassing the party. Commenting on the appointment, a senior leader said Reddy would “keep the flock together” as he is seen as a “friend to all”.

“There were many issues that had cropped up in the party after Bandi’s elevation and with Reddy’s appointment we expect those to be resolved. While Reddy is soft spoken and amiable, Rajender is aggressive; it will be the right combination,” the leader added, asking not to be named.

The appointment of Reddy as president and Rajender as the campaign committee chief, the leader said, would help balance the caste composition as well.

Punjab

Jhakhar was made part of the BJP’s national executive in December. The party is keen on rebuilding the state unit after its alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal ended — it is separately working to revive it — and has been scouting for strong and recognisable leaders on the ground. “Jhakhar has a clean image, and he is a Hindu, a community that is the BJP’s vote bank in the state,” said the senior leader quoted above.

Andhra Pradesh

The Andhra state unit is believed to have told the BJP’s central leadership that the party did not have any support from politically dominant castes and that its local leadership was wanting. Still, Purandeshwari’s appointment seemed to take everyone by surprise.

“It is intriguing since there is talk of the BJP and TDP realigning ahead of the 2024 elections. She was inducted to wean away the politically dominant Kamma votes that constitute about 6% of the electorate and are considered the vote bank of the TDP,” added the leader.

Purandeswari, who was inducted in the national team as a general secretary, is the daughter of former chief minister NT Rama Rao and is TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu’s sister-in-law (and bitter rival). Former Andhra chief minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy, who moved to the party from the Congress in April this year, has been inducted in the BJP national executive.

Jharkhand

Marandi is tribal leader who announced the merger of his Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) with the BJP in 2020, and is expected to consolidate the party’s position among tribal communities. Marandi left the BJP in 2006 to set up his own party. He replaces Deepak Prakash.

“The BJP’s experiment with appointing a non-tribal leader as CM (Raghubar Das) did not pay off. The appointment of Marandi, who was the first tribal leader of the state to become CM is a clear indication that the BJP wants to woo the tribal communities who have grown distant from the party over some issues such as land and forest rights and, more recently, the Uniform Civil Code debate,” said a state BJP  leader who asked not to be named.