राजनीति

Denting Nitish’s ‘Luv-Kush’ vote, synergy with Raje, OBC push — why BJP has new chiefs in 4 states

BJP has replaced four state presidents to court Nitish Kumar’s voter base in Bihar, prevent infighting in Rajasthan, renew its organisational structure in Odisha & lead charge against AAP in Delhi.

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday appointed new state presidents in Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi and Odisha. All appointments were necessitated by the completion of the terms of outgoing state presidents.

In Bihar, the party has appointed MLC Samrat Choudhary — a Kushwaha leader who is also leader of the opposition in the Bihar Legislative Council — as its state chief, replacing Sanjay Jaiswal, whose three-year term ended last October. Choudhary’s elevation, given his aggressive brand of politics, is being viewed by party insiders as part of the BJP’s strategy to dent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s voter base ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

In Rajasthan, Chittorgarh Lok Sabha MP C. P. Joshi replaces Satish Poonia, who was said to be at loggerheads with the Vasundhara Raje camp of the state BJP. According to sources in the state BJP, the party is hoping that Joshi’s appointment will ensure better coordination and prevent confrontation within the party’s Rajasthan unit.

In Delhi, Virendraa Sachdeva takes over the reins of the state BJP from Adesh Gupta who was appointed to the post in June 2020. Sachdeva was appointed interim president of the Delhi BJP to lead the charge against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) following Gupta’s resignation last December.

Similarly, in Odisha, the party has appointed former state minister Manmohan Samal as its state president to replace Samir Mohanty in a bid to give a fresh thrust to its prospects. Mohanty, who replaced Basanta Kumar Panda in 2020 and served as Odisha BJP chief for three years, led the party to victory in the Dhamnagar assembly bypoll last November but could not manage the same result in the Padampur bypoll in December.

Samal, Mohanty’s replacement, is a leader from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) who comes from coastal Odisha where the BJP’s presence is limited. He is seen by many in the party as a consensus builder owing to his term as a minister in the BJD-BJP government in 2004. He has also served as state BJP chief twice in the past, in 1998 and then again in 2000.

BJP national general secretary Sunil Bansal, who was appointed the party’s Odisha prabhari (in-charge) last August, has publicly expressed his desire to set up a more robust party organisation in Odisha.