BJP names state in-charges: Vinod Tawde gets UP, Smriti Irani given Haryana, Chhattisgarh

Vinod Tawde gets Uttar Pradesh, Satish Poonia Punjab, Ram Madhav Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu, while Smriti Irani is assigned Haryana and Chhattisgarh.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday appointed in-charges for 36 states and Union territories ahead of crucial assembly elections next year, including in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur.

BJP president Nitin Nabin with party national general Secretary Vinod Tawde and Anil Baluni (ANI/File)

The appointments put several of the party’s experienced election managers in charge of politically significant states. National general secretary Vinod Tawde, who played a key role in the BJP’s recent success in Bihar, has been appointed Uttar Pradesh in-charge, while national general secretary Satish Poonia, who headed the Rajasthan unit and oversaw the Haryana election, will take charge of Punjab. National vice-president Ram Madhav has been given Uttarakhand, while former Union minister Bharti Pawar will oversee Goa, and Assam minister and legislator Rajdeep Roy will be in charge of Manipur.

BJP adds co-in-charges in several states

The party has also appointed multiple co-in-charges in several states, including Maharashtra and Delhi, reflecting an effort to combine experienced organisational leaders with those being groomed for positions within the party, a person aware of the development said.

Madhav, a former national general secretary who was in charge of the northeastern states and Jammu and Kashmir in 2014, has been appointed in-charge of Uttarakhand. Former national secretary Arvind Menon and Lok Sabha MP Bansuri Swaraj will be the co-in-charges.

Uttarakhand is scheduled to go to the polls early next year, with the BJP seeking a third consecutive term in power.

Madhav will also be in charge of Tamil Nadu, with Lok Sabha MP from Mahabubnagar DK Aruna and Nirmal Kumar Surana as co-in-charges.

Tawde assigned Uttar Pradesh

Tawde, who was credited with the BJP’s success in Bihar and oversaw the organisational transition preceding the appointment of Samrat Chaudhary, has been appointed Uttar Pradesh in-charge. The state, which sends 80 lawmakers to Parliament, has been governed by the BJP since 2017 and is among the party’s most politically important states.

Poonia, who headed the BJP’s Rajasthan unit and oversaw the Haryana assembly election, where the party retained power despite anti-incumbency, has been given charge of Punjab. Former Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and Alka Gurjar will be the co-in-charges. The BJP has indicated that it will contest Punjab on its own, although there have been reports that it is still seeking to firm up an alliance with its former ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Poonia has also been appointed in-charge of Jammu & Kashmir.

Pawar has been given charge of poll-bound Goa, with Anil Antony as co-in-charge. Antony will also be in charge of Nagaland.

Roy has been appointed in-charge of poll-bound Manipur, where the BJP faces the challenge of continuing tensions between the Meiteis and Kukis.

Major appointments for for election bound states (HT graphics)

Bansal continues in West Bengal, gets Telangana

National general secretary Sunil Bansal, counted among the BJP’s key strategists, will continue as in-charge of West Bengal and will also oversee Telangana. He had earlier been in charge of West Bengal, where the BJP made significant gains.

Several former Union ministers and former state-unit chiefs who were not accommodated in the party’s national team have also been given organisational responsibilities in the states.

National general secretary Smriti Irani has been given charge of Chhattisgarh and Haryana, while her colleague Harish Dwivedi, who played a key role in the Assam assembly election, has been given Bihar and Karnataka.

Former Madhya Pradesh minister Arvind Bhadoria has been made in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, with former head of the BJP’s women’s wing Vanathi Srinivasan as co-in-charge.

BJP names leaders for Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Delhi and Gujarat

In Assam, the BJP has appointed Rajya Sabha MP Phangnon Konyak as in-charge. Bihar leader Devesh Kumar has been made in-charge of Arunachal Pradesh.

Former Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe has been given charge of Delhi, while former Union minister Darshana Jardosh and former president of the Ladakh unit Jamyang Namgyal have been appointed co-in-charges.

In Gujarat, which is also scheduled to go to the polls later next year, the BJP has appointed former national general secretary Tarun Chugh as state in-charge. Shrikant Sharma, a former minister in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet, has been given charge of Himachal Pradesh. Both have extensive organisational experience.

New appointments across southern states

National general secretary Gajendra Patel has been given charge of Jharkhand, while Rajya Sabha MP M Nagaraja will be in-charge of Keralam.

Delhi legislator Rajkumar Bhatia has been given charge of Ladakh, while former Union minister George Kurien will oversee Lakshadweep.

Former Tripura chief minister and national general secretary Biplab Deb has been given charge of Madhya Pradesh. Deb also played a role in the BJP’s election campaigns in West Bengal and Haryana.

National vice-president Baijayant Panda will be in charge of Maharashtra. Panda has previously overseen the party’s work in Delhi.

The BJP has appointed three co-in-charges in Maharashtra –– Lok Sabha MP Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Rajya Sabha MP Sadanand Tanavade and Amit Malviya, the former head of the party’s IT cell.

Further appointments cover eastern states

K Purkayastha has been given charge of Meghalaya, while former Union minister Bhagwat Karad will oversee Mizoram. National vice-president D Purandeshwari will be in-charge of Odisha, while former Keralam BJP president K Surendran will oversee Puducherry.

National general secretary Sanjay Bhatia has been made in-charge of Rajasthan, Lok Sabha MP Raju Bista of Sikkim and national secretary Mriganka Deo Barman of Tripura.

Lok Sabha MP Anil Baluni has been assigned the responsibility of the party’s communication department, an overarching role that will include media as well as social media. Ashish Usha Agarwal has been appointed convener of the media department.