BJP announces new state in-charges, senior leaders get fresh roles

New Delhi, Sep 09: With eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday announced new party roles for leaders sacked as chief ministers and central ministers. The appointments hold significance as a large number of senior leaders, who had no organisational post currently, have now been given new responsibilities.

The BJP named its general secretary Vinod Tawde as its new in-charge for Bihar, where the party recently lost power after JD(U) walked out. Mangal Pandey, its former Bihar minister, will look after West Bengal.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra has been given an important organisational responsibility. He has been named coordinator for eight northeastern states and party's national secretary Rituraj Sinha as joint-coordinator

Former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar to be the in-charge of Kerala.

"Senior party leader and member of its central election committee Om Mathur will be in-charge of the party's affairs in Chhattisgarh and its former Uttar Pradesh unit president Laxmikant Bajpai will look after the work in Jharkhand," a PTI report said.

Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb has been appointed as the in-charge of Haryana, former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani to be the in-charge of Punjab-Chandigarh.

Notably, both Gujarat and Tripura are heading for assembly polls and the party's decision to give new responsibilities to Rupani and Deb may have been driven by the BJP's desire to keep its affairs in order in in their home states.

Former Union minister and party MP Mahesh Sharma has been made in-charge of Tripura, another MP Vinod Sonkar will look after party work in two Union territories Dadra Nagra Haveli and Daman Diu. Recently elected Rajya Sabha member of BJP Radha Mohan Agarwal will be its incharge for Lakshadweep.

Meanwhile, BJP general secretary Arun Singh will continue to be its in-charge for Rajasthan and P Muralidhar Rao for Madhya Pradesh. The party has also appointed some co-incharges its national secretary Narinder Singh Raina for Punjab, Arvid Menon for Telangana, Vijay Rahatkar for Telangana and Asha Lakra for West Bengal.

BJP's national secretary Pankaja Munde and Ram Shankar Katheria will continue to be co in-charges for Madhya Pradesh, Nitin Nabin for Chhattisgarh.