BJP picks well-tested Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhupender Yadav as in-charge for Bihar, Bengal elections

Apart from these two poll-bound states, the BJP named poll in-charge for Tamil Nadu, which will also see Assembly elections next year. BJP national vice-president and MP Baijayant Panda gets the post, with Minister of State of Cooperation and Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol the co-incharge.

The two factors which stand out in the appointments are the BJP’s OBC push and the seniority factor. Yadav, Pradhan, Patil, and Maurya are OBC leaders who have handled several elections for the party.

“Over and above the caste which they come from, Bhupender ji, Dharmendra ji and Patil ji are not only among the senior-most leaders but are considered the most efficient election managers within the party’s fold,” a source said.

Yadav, who heads the Environment, Forest and Climate Change portfolio, was part of the BJP’s Bihar 2020 election campaign, in which the BJP emerged as the second-largest party, close behind the RJD. Yadav was also closely involved with the BJP’s 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign, when the party won as many as 303 seats.

Panda, who is a relatively new entrant to the party, having crossed over from the BJD, is seen to have played a significant role in the BJP’s Delhi Assembly election victory this year. The party returned to power in the national capital after three decades.

A long-time BJP face, Patil has been the party’s Gujarat chief since 2020. It was under him that the party was re-elected to power in Gujarat in 2022, with its highest tally ever — a turnaround from 2017, when it was given a scare by the Congress. “Patil ji’s significant equation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi itself is not a secret. Maurya ji and him are OBC leaders and adept at election management and human resource management,” a source said.

Pradhan has earlier held the charge of Uttarakhand and Haryana, and been the co-in-charge for Bihar. He has also held charge of the BJP’s affairs in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.

BJP leaders said the position of state in-charge, although temporary, is a “crucial link” between the party’s national leadership and its broad vision regarding significant electoral issues in respective states.
They say that these leaders function as observers adding “another layer of assessment” of ground-level circumstances, especially when it comes to the pulse of the party’s political campaign and help communicate “the winnability of potential candidates “directly to the top”.

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