District offices play key role in BJP’s expansion plan

NEW DELHI: BJP national president JP Nadda on Thursday inaugurated new party offices in nine districts of West Bengal, just a few months before the elections. With this, the BJP has added around 60 new district offices across India since February this year and an equal number of offices are ready to be inaugurated. In November, Nadda had inaugurated six such offices in Odisha. In October, he laid the foundation stone for six offices each in Himachal and Rajasthan.

As the BJP plans to expand its organisational footprint across the country, district offices play an important role in the expansion plan. The idea was conceived by PM Modi in August 2014 when he said that the party should have its own offices at all districts equipped with all the modern communication facilities. The task was taken by the then BJP national president and current union home minister Amit Shah. For the first time, a political party formed a new department called the building and construction department and BJP leader G Ravindra Raju was made the national coordinator for this. BJP general secretary and in-charge of party office, Arun Singh, also played a crucial role in executing the plan. By October this year, of the 719 proposed district offices, 432 were functional and 73 are about to be inaugurated. Currently, work is on in 196 district offices.

“Earlier, at some places, an MLA or local leader will make the office on his own premise. Because of this, several other leaders will not come to the office. Since the party has grown, it should have offices on its own with all facilities like library, conference hall and video and audio conferencing room,” Arun Singh, the BJP general secretary in-charge of Karnataka, Rajasthan and party office told ET. “An office improves the efficiency of party workers and the output is better. Whatever we decide at the central level gets executed till the mandal and booth level.”


During the Covid-19 lockdown, the BJP leadership was in constant touch with district-level leaders through video and audio conferencing facilities at the district offices.

It helps the party grow its base in states where it has a lesser presence. Nadda is on a 120-day tour of all the states, during which he would be inaugurating or laying the foundation stone of several new district offices. He is expected to inaugurate BJP offices in 10 districts of Punjab to improve connectivity with the local leadership. Similar work is going on in several states. All the states have their own building construction department which reports to Ravindra Raju. It is monitored by BJP organisational general secretary BL Santosh. In Andhra Pradesh, the party has offices at 13 places. However, since the state is planning to increase the number of districts from 13 to 26, the BJP is planning to expand its presence through new district offices. “Currently, two places are under construction and we are in the process of purchasing land at 10 places,” Somu Veerraju, Andhra BJP president told ET. Work is going on in new state BJP offices in Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand.