Nabin’s new BJP team takes shape as party redraws state organisational map

New Delhi: The BJP on Wednesday announced its list of state in-charges and co-in-charges ahead of crucial assembly elections. The rejig is part of the process of building a new team under national president Nitin Nabin.

Among the 65 leaders who have been given responsibilities, 21 are women (32%), highlighting the fact that the party is now willing to accommodate women at all levels in organisational decision-making. Four women leaders have been made state in-charges, while 17 others have been appointed as co-in-charges.

BJP general secretary Smriti Irani has been appointed as in-charge of Haryana and Chhattisgarh. D Purandeswari has been made in-charge of Odisha, while Bharati Pawar has been appointed Goa in-charge. Varshaben Doshi has been appointed as in-charge of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. At least one woman has been appointed as an in-charge or co-in-charge in all big states. The prominent names in the co-in-charge list include Kavita Patidar, Bansuri Swaraj, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Rekha Verma, Rekha Sharma, Pinky Kushwaha, DK Aruna, Darshana Singh, Darshanaben Jardosh and Vanathi Srinivasan.


The party has also rejigged its media team for better synergy and coordination. The current media in-charge, Anil Baluni, has been elevated as coordinator of the communication department, with both the media and social media wings under him. This is on similar lines to the structure in the RSS. Ashish Agarwal has been elevated and appointed convener of the media department from the post of co-convener.

Bigger states like Uttar Pradesh have been given four co-in-charges, while Maharashtra and West Bengal have been given three each. Five party leaders have been given charge of two states. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav has been appointed in-charge of Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand. Sunil Bansal has been appointed in-charge of Telangana and West Bengal. Bansal had already been working as in-charge in these two states.

Satish Poonia has retained charge of Punjab and has also been given Jammu and Kashmir. Harish Dwivedi has been given charge of Karnataka and Bihar. BJP general secretary Biplab Deb has been given charge of Madhya Pradesh. BJP vice-president Jai Panda has been appointed in-charge of Maharashtra, with three co-in-charges, including former BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe has been appointed in-charge of Delhi, making a return to regular organisational responsibility.

Four former state presidents - Satish Poonia of Rajasthan, K Surendran of Kerala, Sadanand Tanawade of Goa and Virendra Sachdeva of Delhi - have been included in the list of in-charges and co-in-charges.

In Uttar Pradesh, along with Vinod Tawde, four co-in-charges - Jagdish Patel, Medha Kulkarni, Pradeep Verma and Anant Ojha - have been appointed.