Nitin Nabin’s team does a fine balancing act between the old and the new

New Delhi: The long-awaited team of office-bearers of BJP President Nitin Nabin does a fine balancing act, retaining some of the veteran faces while putting its faith in a slew of new leaders to lead the party’s march ahead. While intra-party equations in various states have been managed, at least four office bearers are defectors from other parties.

BJP has not fallen for the rhetoric of having young greenhorns to woo Gen Z and present a fresh look. It is amply clear that tested, experienced hands will helm the party’s election campaign and strategy, especially in crucial states. The new ones will get to learn the ropes and will be groomed to take over in the coming years.

Interestingly, no single leader that forms part of the high command here has had a complete say in the new appointments. The list clearly shows that the opinion of most of them have been accommodated to some extent while some new appointees have made it despite having differences with the high command in the past.


Vinod Tawde and Sunil Bansal, two general secretaries who have proven their mettle over the years, have been retained. Smriti Irani, who has been an effective campaigner and crowd-puller for BJP in several elections, has made a comeback as general secretary. By temperament and talent, she is more suited to party work and may now have a stable innings. Former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has been made a general secretary.

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The list of national presidents will continue to have party veterans, and not surprisingly, has the most number of office bearers who have been retained. Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will continue as VP. Her bete noire Satish Poonia, former Rajasthan BJP unit chief and now a Rajya Sabha MP, has been made a general secretary. Baijayant Jay Panda, D Purandeswari, Rekha Verma and Tariq Mansoor have also been retained as VP.

Panda (ex-BJD), Purandeswari (ex-TDP), Manpreet Singh Badal (also a VP in the new team and ex-SAD member), and national secretaries Sandeep Pathak (ex-AAP) and Rohan Gupta (Congress) had defected from other parties. The first three are well-entrenched in the BJP while Gupta and Pathak are new entrants.

Ram Madhav, a former general secretary, is now a vice president of the party.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has returned as treasurer, a role he played for years when the BJP was in the Opposition.

Those who were predicting Gen Z presence should note that new Yuva Morcha head Hemang Joshi is a 35-year-old millennial.

Former Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Bharti Pawar has been made a national vice president.

There will be no let-up in BJP’s aggression on social media despite the departure of convenor Amit Malviya as his replacement, 58-year-old Deepak Mhaskey, and the four co-convenors have a reputation of going all out while targeting opponents.

Overall, the new team is likely to tread a similar trajectory as its predecessors with some office-bearers standing out while others doing a routine job and being there as representatives of states or communities.