Nitin Nabin rejigs BJP machinery ahead of 2027 Assembly polls

Ahead of the 2027 Assembly election cycle, BJP president Nitin Nabin on Wednesday announced a major organisational reshuffle, appointing in-charges and co-in-charges for 36 States and Union Territories across the country, with former Union Minister Smriti Irani being given responsibility of Chhattisgarh and Haryana. Several senior leaders have been given charge of more than one State.

Rajasthan leader Satish Poonia has been allocated Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. New party vice president Ram Madhav has been given charge of Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu, while the party's key strategist Sunil Bansal will oversee West Bengal and Telangana. He was already serving as in-charge for West Bengal after succeeding Kailash Vijayvargiya. National general secretary Harish Dwivedi has been given charge of Bihar and Karnataka.

Vinod Tawde is in charge of key Uttar Pradesh, with Jagdish Patel, Medha Kulkarni, Pradeep Verma, and Anant Ojha as co-in-charges. Tarun Chugh has been assigned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, Gujarat, with Ajay Mahawar and Gomati Sai as co-in-charges.

Notably, the names of Tawde for UP, Poonia for Punjab, and Chugh for Gujarat were announced earlier, last month. The new appointments on Wednesday include former Uttar Pradesh minister Shrikant Sharma as Himachal Pradesh in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Baijayant Jay Panda for Maharashtra, with former IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya, Sadanand Shet Tanavade and Kamaljeet Sehrawat as co-in-charges.

The reshuffle comes ahead of Assembly elections scheduled in several states in 2027, including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa, Manipur, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

Former national secretary Arvind Menon and Lok Sabha MP Bansuri Swaraj will be the co-in-charges for Madhav in poll-bound Uttarakhand. The state will vote early next year and the BJP is hoping to retain power for the third consecutive term.

Madhav will also be in charge of Tamil Nadu, while MPs from Mahabubnagar, DK Aruna and Nirmal Kumar Surana, will be the co-in-charges.

In a reshuffle, the BJP has elevated Anil Baluni as coordinator of its communication department, which includes the party's national media cell and social media unit. Ashish Usha Agrawal, who was recently appointed co-convenor of the BJP's national media department, has also been elevated as its convenor, a post Baluni held so far.

“All these appointments made by BJP president Nitin Nabin come into effect immediately,” the party said in an order. Former BJP IT cell and its social media chief Amit Malviya, along with Sadanand Shet Tanawade and Kamaljeet Sehrawat, have been named co-in-charges for Maharashtra.

Senior BJP leader Vinay Sahasrabuddhe will serve as the in-charge for Delhi, while Jamyang Tsering Namgyal and Darshana Jardosh will be the co-in-charges.

In another state that will go to polls next year, Punjab, Satish Poonia has been named the in-charge, with former Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and Rajya Sabha MP Alka Gurjar as co-in-charges. Poonia has also been appointed in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir.

Goa has Dr Bharti Pravin Pawar as in-charge and Anil Antony as co-in-charge. Manipur has Dr Rajdeep Roy as in-charge.

In West Bengal, Sunil Bansal will be assisted by Lal Singh Arya, Rajendra Singh and Pinki Kushwaha. Odisha will be handled by D Purandeswari, with Dr Swadesh Singh as co-in-charge. Assam has Mangal Pandey as in-charge and Phangnon Konyak as co-in-charge. Former Tripura chief minister Biplav Kumar Deb has been made the in-charge for Madhya Pradesh, while ex-Union minister Bharati Pravin Pawar has been assigned Goa. The coastal state goes to polls next year.

In the Northeast, Dr Devesh Kumar has been appointed in Arunachal Pradesh, Raju Bista in Sikkim, Kanad Purkayastha and Dr Numal Momin in Meghalaya, Dr Bhagwat Karad in Mizoram, Anil Antony in Nagaland and Mriganka Dev Burman in Tripura.

Among the Union Territories, Jai Prakash has been appointed in Andaman and Nicobar, Manoj Tigga in Chandigarh, Varshaben Narendrabhai Doshi in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Rajkumar Bhatia in Ladakh, and George Kurian in Lakshadweep. In Jammu and Kashmir, Satish Poonia will be assisted by Reena Kashyap.

Lok Sabha MP D Purandeswari has been assigned Odisha, with national secretary Swadesh Singh as the co-in-charge. BJP MLA from Assam, Rajeep Roy, has been assigned Manipur, another state where elections are due next year.