BJP retains most state incharges but names for UP, Maharashtra, WB not declared

Days after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results were declared, BJP Chief JP Nadda on Friday appointed new state in-charges for the party but retained in the same post most of the senior leaders who were handling this responsibility or were election in-charges. However, the party has not announced in-charges of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal where it has performed badly in the recent general elections.

BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde will continue as in-charge of Bihar. Former Jharkhand BJP Chief and Rajya Sabha member Deepak Prakash will be his deputy. Similarly, general secretary Tarun Chugh will continue to handle Jammu and Kashmir- where elections are likely in September- and will be assisted by Ashish Sood of Delhi BJP. Chugh will also be incharge of Ladakh while Sood will be incharge of Goa.

Another general secretary Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, former MLA from Gorakhpur, will continue to hold the charge of Karnataka. Sudhakar Reddy, who was co-incharge of Tamil Nadu, will now be Agarwal’s deputy.

The decision to defer announcement of in-charges for UP, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam exposes a lack of consensus on the issue between the central leadership and the state units of the party in these states.

BJP Vice President Baijayant Jay Panda was made Uttar Pradesh in-charge but is now a Lok Sabha MP from Kendrapara. UP, where BJP’s tally came down from 62 to 33 in the 18th Lok Sabha, does not have a full-time state in-charge.

The names of new in-charges for Maharashtra and West Bengal have also not been announced. This omission is interesting as Assembly elections are due in Maharashtra in October. Dinesh Sharma was Maharashtra in-charge while Union Ministers Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnaw were made election in-charge and co-in-charge of the state during the general elections. BJP general secretary Sunil Bansal was in-charge of West Bengal with Bihar leader Mangal Pandey, IT Cell head Amit Malviya and Asha Lakra as co-in-charges.

Also missing in the list are in-charges for Tamil Nadu and Assam. Arvind Menon was in-charge of Tamil Nadu with Sudhakar Reddy as co-incharge while Haryana leader Captain Abhimanyu was in-charge of Assam with Pawan Sharma as his deputy.

Former Rajasthan unit Chief Satish Poonia will be Haryana in-charge and have Surendra Singh Nagar as his deputy. Both served as election-in-charge and co-incharge of the state in the general elections. The forthcoming Assembly elections in the state in October are a serious challenge for the party. Its tally in the 18th Lok Sabha polls was cut down by half to 5 seats. BJP had won all ten LS seats in 2014.

Among the names where there will be a status quo are Jharkhand- where Assembly polls are due later this year- Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

BJP Vice President and Rajya Sabha MP Laxmikant Bajpai will remain in-charge of Jharkhand. Former UP minister Srikant Sharma will stay incharge of Himachal Pradesh- where by-elections are on- and will be assisted by Sanjay Tandon who lost the Chandigarh Lok Sabha election by a wafer-thin margin to Manish Tewari of the Congress.

There will be no change in Chhattisgarh where Bihar leader and long-time MLA Nitin Nabin will continue as in-charge. Similarly, Mahendra Kumar and Satish Upadhyaya will continue as in-charge and co-incharge of Madhya Pradesh. Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani has been reappointed Punjab incharge as has been his deputy Narender Singh. In Uttarakhand, Satish Gautam will continue to be incharge but will now have a co-incharge in Rekha Verma.

Former union minister Prakash Javadekar will continue as in-charge of Kerala and will be assisted by bureaucrat-turned MP Aparajita Sarangi, who replaces Nalin Kumar Kateel.

Puri MP Sambit Patra has been appointed co-ordinator for the North-East states and will be assisted by ex-Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan.