NEW DELHI: The BJP on Monday hit the reset button as party president Nitin Nabin announced a new national team of office-bearers to prepare the party for the upcoming round of assembly elections, leading up to the 2029 Lok Sabha challenge. The party leaders described the newly constituted team as a strategic blend of seasoned administrative and organisational experience, youthfulness, geographic diversity and comprehensive social inclusion.The list has some high-profile omissions and some surprise comebacks. While Amit Malviya did not find a place in the new team after serving as BJP’s I-T cell head for 11 years, Ram Madhav and Smriti Irani made a grand comeback after staying on the fringes for long.Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the newly appointed national office-bearers. “Congratulations to the newly appointed national office bearers of the BJP and those who have been given various responsibilities in the party. This newly appointed team brings together organisational experience, energy and grassroots connect,” PM Modi said on X.BJP chief Nitin Nabin called his team a blend of experience and energy that will provide new momentum to the organisation and take forward PM Modi’s vision of ‘Viksit Bharat’.In a post on X, Nabin said, “Heartiest congratulations and best wishes to all the newly appointed office-bearers of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s National Team. With a blend of experience and energy, this team will give new momentum to the organisation under the guidance of Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”“I am confident that every member, with the spirit of a dedicated karyakarta, will further strengthen the organisation to take forward the resolve of a ‘Viksit Bharat’ and the commitment to nation-building to new heights,” he further said.
Here are some highlights of Nitin’s “Nabin” team
- The overhauled national team has nearly 50 new office-bearers out of the 65 names announced, signalling a significant break from the past.
- The new team has widespread representation, accommodating voices from 23 states and Union territories across the country.
- Every major faith is respected and accommodated. The national team has one Sikh member, two Christian members and one member each from Muslim, Jain and Parsi communities.
- The youngest BJP chief has opted for a relatively young team. Six office-bearers are below 40 years, 15 are in the 40-49 years age group, and 21 are in the 50-59 years age group.
- There are three former chief ministers, 12 women and several experienced MPs in important roles
- The committee has four tribal representatives from West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and the North-East, two of whom are women.
- Special focus has been placed on the northeast region, with three regional leaders from Tripura, Assam and Nagaland and the continuation of a dedicated North-East Coordination Cell.
“Such balanced appointments empower the incoming national president’s executive team to operate with a profound awareness of the nation’s vast geographical landscape and regional nuances,” the BJP said in a statement.
Focus Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh, which goes to polls early next year, has been the biggest focus in this BJP reset. As many as 8 leaders from Uttar Pradesh have found a place in Nitin Nabin’s team, the most notable being Smriti Irani.Among national vice-presidents, Rekha Verma and Prof Tariq Mansoor are from UP. Smriti Irani and Harish Dwivedi have been appointed national general secretaries.Two national secretaries and two Morcha presidents are also from UP.
Political comeback of many sidelined faces
BJP’s new national team marks the comeback of several leaders who were on the sidelines in recent times. From former Union minister Smriti Irani and RSS veteran Ram Madhav to former chief ministers Biplab Kumar Deb and Tirath Singh Rawat, several BJP leaders who had either slipped out of the party’s top organisational structure or seen their political stock diminish have returned to prominent roles in the new national team.Smriti Irani, whose biggest claim to fame is her victory over Rahul Gandhi in 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Amethi, ending the Gandhi family’s decades-long dominance over the constituency, thanked PM Modi and BJP president Nitin Nabin for reposing their faith in her and said she would work to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots while contributing to the party’s vision of a “Viksit Bharat.”
She described her political journey from an “ordinary BJP karyakarta” to one of the party’s top organisational posts as “deeply humbling.” She thanked PM Modi and BJP president Nitin Nabin for reposing their faith in her and said she would work to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots while contributing to the party’s vision of a “Viksit Bharat.”The return of Ram Madhav, who has been made a national vice-president, is also significant.A former RSS spokesperson who was deputed to the BJP in 2014, Madhav emerged as one of the party’s most influential general secretaries during its first term in power under PM Modi. He played a key role in the BJP’s expansion in the northeast and was one of the principal architects of its alliance with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir after the 2014 assembly polls.
His influence waned after the BJP-PDP government collapsed in 2018, and he was dropped as a national general secretary when then BJP president J P Nadda constituted his team in September 2020. He subsequently largely disappeared from the BJP’s organisational front line.
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The BJP later brought him back to oversee its Jammu and Kashmir assembly election campaign along with Union minister G Kishan Reddy in 2024.
The 2027 test
The first meeting of the Nitin Nabin’s new team is scheduled to be held on August 22, news agency ANI reported citing government sources. However, its first test will be in early 2027 when several states, including Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, go to the polls. The BJP has a duanting task at hand in Uttar Pradesh, where the Samajwadi Party and the Congress together pushed it on the backfoot in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.Meanwhile, with changes in the party structure announced, all eyes would now be on the possible changed in the Union Cabinet.
