Bhubaneswar: The BJP on Wednesday appointed senior leader D Purandeswari as its in-charge for Odisha, with Dr Swadesh Singh named co-in-charge, as part of a major organisational reshuffle covering 36 states and Union Territories.
The appointments, announced by BJP national president Nitin Nabin, take immediate effect. Purandeswari will oversee the party’s organisational affairs in Odisha, while Singh will assist her as co-in-charge.
Purandeswari, a senior BJP leader from Andhra Pradesh, has previously served as the party’s Odisha in-charge. She was first given the responsibility in 2020. Her reappointment comes ahead of the panchayat and urban local body elections in the state.
Purandeswari and Singh will replace Vijay Pal Singh Tomar and Sushree Lata Usendi, respectively.
The changes are part of a wider organisational exercise by the BJP to restructure its state-level teams and assign responsibilities to several senior leaders. The reshuffle includes appointments in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Karnataka, Punjab and other states and Union Territories.
The latest changes also see several senior leaders being entrusted with responsibilities in more than one state. Harish Dwivedi, Smriti Irani, Satish Poonia, Ram Madhav and Sunil Bansal are among those assigned charge of two states, according to reports on the organisational reshuffle.
In Maharashtra, BJP national vice-president Baijayant Jay Panda has been appointed in-charge, while Amit Malviya, Sadanand Shet Tanavade and Kamaljeet Sehrawat have been named co-in-charges.
Vinod Tawde has been appointed Uttar Pradesh in-charge, with Jagdish Patel, Medha Kulkarni, Pradeep Verma and Anant Ojha serving as co-in-charges.
Sunil Bansal has been assigned charge of Telangana and West Bengal, while Ram Madhav will oversee Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand. Harish Dwivedi has been given charge of Bihar and Karnataka, while Satish Poonia will handle Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
The organisational reshuffle comes as the BJP continues to strengthen its state-level organisational structures and realign responsibilities among senior leaders.
