Poll heat drives BJP’s big reset

Smriti Irani, Ram Madhav return to party organisation as BJP unveils a team built for election mode

The BJP on Monday unveiled a new national team under party president Nitin Nabin, with former Union minister Smriti Irani, former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia, former Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb and Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal handling key organisational responsibilities. The rejig comes in the backdrop of at least five States, including Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, going to polls in the coming months.

The new team, which has 12 women and six leaders from minority communities, adheres to the party’s social engineering model, giving representation to various castes and tribes. The latest reshuffle has in the party organisation has brought three former CM and 18 MPs.

The BJP has also appointed academic Deepak Mhaskey as its social media department head, replacing Amit Malviya, who led the party’s social media outreach for 11 years. The party has dropped all but one of the party’s incumbent national secretaries. Barring Anil Antony, son of Congress veteran and former Defence Minister AK Antony, all the BJP’s national secretaries are new. Anil Baluni has been retained as media in charge. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the new office bearers through a post on X.

Union minister Goyal has been appointed the BJP’s national treasurer, a post he held from 2010 to 2014, hinting at a possible Cabinet reshuffle. The reason is the BJP’s unwritten “one person, one post” principle coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and now Home Minister Amit Shah. The principle generally favours separating major organisational and Government responsibilities, with leaders expected to focus on either running the party or holding a significant Government position, especially in national politics.

The BJP’s decision to bring the former Union minister back is being seen as far more than a routine reshuffle. By appointing her as a national general secretary alongside seasoned strategists such as Sunil Bansal, Vinod Tawde, Biplab Deb and Satish Poonia, the party has signalled that it is shifting into election mode. Rajya Sabha MP Tawde and senior leader Bansal were retained as national general secretaries.

Irani’s return to the organisational fold is being considered as one of the big announcements coming more than two years after she lost the Amethi Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 General Election. As a national general secretary, in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Irani is expected to play a crucial role in various aspects of electioneering in the State. She has held several senior organisational positions in the BJP, including national vice-president, national secretary and head of the party’s women’s wing at different points. A former prominent face in the Union Cabinet, she had remained outside the party’s central organisational structure after being dropped as a minister.

The party, which said it has maintained the right balance between youth and experience, retained a few veterans including former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje Scindia, who was named one of its 13 vice-presidents. Out of the total 65 names of office bearers announced on Monday, 51 are new. Six are below 40 years, 15 are in the 40-49 years age group, and 21 are in the 50-59 years age group. The office bearers also include 10 women and six leaders from minority communities, party sources said.

The number of vice presidents in the new team has been increased to 13 from 11, out of which nine are new. The total number of national general secretaries has also been increased to eight from the previous seven. The BJP’s new team has 16 national secretaries. There were 11 national secretaries in the previous team. The appointments have ensured widespread representation, accommodating voices from 23 states and Union Territories across the country.

Lok Sabha MP D Purandeshwari and former Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat are among the new vice presidents. Baijayant Jay Panda and Rekha Verma have been retained as vice presidents, while Ram Madhav returns as a national vice-president of the party. BL Santhosh continues as the general secretary, organisation.

Madhav, a former national general secretary of the BJP, is currently a member of the national executive of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He had played a crucial role in the party’s organisational and political outreach in Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast.

In his new team, the BJP president has appointed Dr. Hemang Joshi of Gujarat as the new Yuva Morcha chief and Roop Kumari Choudhary of Chhattisgarh as the new head of the Mahila Morcha. Amarpal Maurya of Uttar Pradesh has been made the new OBC Morcha.

The party said that to ensure that every major faith in India is respected and accommodated, the national office has given place to one Sikh member, two Christian members and one member each from Muslim, Jain and Parsi communities.

Former Aligarh Muslim University vice chancellor Prof Tariq Mansoor has been appointed national vice president. Kunwar Basit Ali has been appointed president of the Minority Morcha.

Former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal has been appointed BJP national vice-president. The party said the new appointments ensure widespread representation, accommodating voices from 23 states and Union territories across the country.

The party highlighted that a special focus has been placed on the North-East region, which has been given distinct prominence through the appointment of three regional leaders from Tripura, Assam and Nagaland and the continuation of a dedicated North-East Coordination Cell, which will be headed by Sambit Patra.