After leading Bharatiya Janata Party successfully in four elections, party’s secretary (organisation) Sunil Bansal has been elevated and appointed as the national general secretary of the BJP.
Sunil Bansal will look after West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana as state in-charge.
Dharampal Singh has been appointed as new state secretary (organisation). Singh is originally from Bijnor and has worked as the organisation secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). At present he was in-charge of Jharkhand.
Bansal’s elevation to the national scene was expected for the last few months but was delayed owing to the assembly elections of Uttar Pradesh. Immediately after the election there were speculations that he would move out of UP but was asked to stay back and oversee the party's parliamentary by-elections in Rampur and Azamgarh.
Bansal has set a blazing trail and has been at the helm of affairs for eight years – the longest by any secretary (organisation). During this tenure he successfully led the party in four elections –2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 2017 and 2022 Vidhan Sabha polls – and in all these elections BJP emerged as a winner.
“Bansal’s organisational skill was par excellence. He was able to read the mood of the people and keep the workers invigorated. Many times when workers showed annoyance against the government, he was able to placate them,” a senior BJP leader said.
Bansal’s tenure also witnessed a tumultuous time when he developed a rift with party president Swatantra Dev Singh, Insiders recount how the national leadership had to intervene and bring both of them on the same page before the assembly election in 2022.