BJP announces new team of states’ in-charge with an eye on upcoming Assembly elections
Ram Madhav, who was dropped as the general secretary in September, has not been been allotted any state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday announced a new team of states’ in-charge, with an apparent focus on states where elections are due.
The party’s Information Technology Cell chief Amit Malviya will now assist Kailash Vijayvargiya, who will continue to be in charge of West Bengal. Assembly elections in the state are scheduled to take place in 2021. The saffron party is looking forward to unseat the Mamata Banerjee-led government.
BJP Vice-President Radha Mohan Singh was made the in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, while National General Secretary Arun Singh was given the charge of Karnataka. Singh will replace Murlidhar Rao, who will now take charge of Madhya Pradesh.
Karnataka Minister CT Ravi was given charge of poll-bound Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Goa.
Bhupendra Yadav, meanwhile, will continue to handle Bihar, where the BJP and its allies won the Assembly elections on November 10. He will also look after Gujarat. BJP national secretaries Harish Dwivedi and Anupam Hazra will assist him.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra was given the charge of Manipur. Party Vice-President Baijayant Panda will be in charge of Delhi and Assam.
BJP General Secretary Tarun Chugh, who was earlier the co-in-charge for Delhi, will now take over Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. CP Radhakrishnan will handle Kerala, where elections are scheduled to take place next year.
Union Minister V Muralidharan will handle Andhra Pradesh and Sunil Deodhar will assist him.
BJP National Secretary Satya Kumar will take charge of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while Vinod Tawde will handle Haryana.
Dushyant Gautam was made the in-charge of Punjab, Chandigarh and Uttarakhand. Newly-appointed General Secretary D Purandeshwari will handle Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Dilip Sakia will assume charge of Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh.
Ram Madhav, who was dropped as the general secretary in September, has not been allotted any state.
The new appointments came more than a month after BJP President JP Nadda appointed new office-bearers to the party.