New Delhi: Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed election in-charges for 17 states and has assigned the former Home Minister of Gujarat Gordhan Zadaphia the command of Uttar Pradesh. BJP National President Amit Shah on Wednesday has made the announcement and appointed the poll in-charge and co-in-charge for important states and put a mix of young and old along with few RSS functionaries.
Zadafia appointment for crucial Uttar Pradesh comes as a blessing in disguise to him. UP sends 80 members to Lok Sabha and in 2014 Shah himself steered the party to an emphatic win and BJP won a total of 71 seats. BJP President has also appointed Dushyant Gautam and Narottam Mishra as his assistant.
Zadafia was MoS Home in Gujarat in 2002 and in 2007, he left the BJP complaining against the autocratic attitude of Modi. In 2012 he joined Keshubahi Patel’s Gujarat Parivartan Party. He joined the BJP back in 2017 and worked for them during the assembly election of Gujarat.
Zadaphia’s homecoming ‘Ghar Wapsi’ ends the challenge for PM Narendra Modi from disgruntled elements within the party.
Given his earlier track record of being critical of Modi, this new responsibility is seen as an attempt to re-establish him in the party.
Shah has also appointed former Kerala unit President V Muralidharan as in charge of Andhra Pradesh while Sunil Deodhar will assist him as the co-in charge. Uttar Pradesh government minister Mahendra Singh has been appointed election in-charge of Assam. In 2016, Singh was the in-charge during the Assembly election and led the party to a comfortable victory.
Bhupendra Yadav will continue to be the in-charge of party affairs in Bihar. A close associate of PM Modi and senior BJP leader Om Prakash Mathur will continue as Gujarat in-charge.
Tirath Singh Rawat has been appointed as in-charge of Himachal Pradesh. For Madhya Pradesh party president has appointed UP government minister Swatantra Dev Singh as election in-charge and Delhi BJP Chief Satish Upadhyay as his deputy. Prakash Javadekar has retained as the in-charge of Rajasthan and party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi will assist him as co-in-charge.
BJP Spokesperson Nalin Kohli has been given the charge of Manipur and Nagaland and BJP’s General Secretary Arun Singh will be in-charge of Odisha. Haryana Minister Captain Abhimanyu has been appointed the in-charge of Punjab and Chandigarh. Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha leader and MLA from Bihar Nitin Navin is appointed as in-charge of Sikkim, Arvind Limbawali an MLA from Karnataka has been given the command of Telangana while Union Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot has been given the responsibility of Uttarakahand.
Also read:
Amidst Sabarimala row, 4 BJP leaders resign; Likely to join Left Front
Modi relies on women power to strengthen BJP’s booth-level management in Lok Sabha polls
