New Delhi: In a major organisational reshuffle aimed at strengthening the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of key electoral battles, party president Nitin Nabin on Monday announced a new team of national office-bearers, elevating senior Odisha leader Baijayant Jay Panda as a national vice-president and appointing BJP national spokesperson Dr Sambit Patra as the party’s North East coordinator.
The appointments, which take effect immediately, were announced through an official party release. The rejig also saw former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, former Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat and senior ideologue Ram Madhav being named national vice-presidents, while former Union minister Smriti Irani and former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb were appointed national general secretaries.
The overhaul is being seen as Nabin’s first major organisational exercise after taking over as BJP president, with the new team reflecting a mix of experienced leaders, former chief ministers, Union ministers and regional faces from across the country.
For Odisha, the elevation of Baijayant Jay Panda to the post of national vice-president is significant. A former MP and one of the BJP’s prominent national faces from the state, Panda has been entrusted with a key leadership role in the party’s central organisation.
Dr Sambit Patra, another senior BJP leader from Odisha and one of the party’s best-known national spokespersons, has been appointed North East coordinator. The responsibility is considered strategically important as the BJP seeks to consolidate and expand its organisational network across the eight northeastern states, where it has emerged as a major political force over the past decade.
The party retained B.L. Santhosh as National General Secretary (Organisation), underscoring continuity in the BJP’s organisational structure. Shiv Prakash and Saudan Singh will continue as National Joint General Secretaries (Organisation).
Union Minister Piyush Goyal has been brought back as the party’s national treasurer.
The list of national general secretaries includes Smriti Irani, Biplab Kumar Deb, Vinod Tawde, Sunil Bansal, Satish Poonia, Gajendra Patel, Harish Dwivedi and Sanjay Bhatia.
Apart from Panda, the BJP named D. Purandeshwari, Rekha Verma, Varshaben Narendrabhai Doshi, Bharti Pravin Pawar, Manpreet Singh Badal, Lal Singh Arya, M. Nagaraja, Prof Tariq Mansoor and Madhuchandra Kar as national vice-presidents, besides Vasundhara Raje, Tirath Singh Rawat and Ram Madhav.
The party also appointed 16 national secretaries. The new appointees include Kavita Patidar, K. Surendran, Bhola Singh, Pradip Varma, Jagdish Ishwarbhai Patel, Sandeep Pathak, Phangnon Konyak, Sangeeta Yadav, Anil Antony, Dr M. Venkateshan, Manoj Tigga, Siddharth Shambhu, Dr Swadesh Singh, Mriganka Deo Barman, Rohan Gupta and Jai Prakash.
Party leaders said the revamped national team aims to strengthen the BJP’s organisational machinery while ensuring wider regional representation. The appointments come as the BJP prepares for a series of Assembly elections and continues to sharpen its strategy for the next phase of political expansion across the country.
(IANS)
