File photo: BJP President Amit Shah
New Delhi:
BJP chief Amit Shah has re-allocated the responsibility of some major states to senior party functionaries, handing the charge of crucial state Uttar Pradesh to Om Mathur, a trusted aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Mathur was the election in-charge for Maharashtra, where the party enjoyed its biggest-ever victory in the recently-held assembly elections, winning 123 of 288 seats.
Maharashtra will now be looked after by another senior party leader JP Nadda. Mr Nadda will also be the BJP leader in-charge of Rajasthan; both are now BJP-ruled states.
Former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy has been given charge of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Tamil Nadu votes in 2016 and is not a state where the BJP has had significant presence. Mr Rudy earlier had charge of Maharashtra.
Party Secretary Sidhharth Nath Singh has retained the charge of West Bengal. Poonam Mahajan, the daughter of late Maharashtra leader Pramod Mahajan and a Member of Parliament from Mumbai, has been made the in-charge of the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Mr Mathur just oversaw the state elections in Maharashtra, in which the BJP has registered its strongest performance ever. Winning UP in 2017, is the most important piece in the BJP's plans to expand its influence in the states, and Mr Mathur will have his task cut out.
After virtually sweeping the state in the national elections earlier this year, courtesy a watertight strategy prepared by Amit Shah, the BJP had suffered a setback in by-elections held last month losing seven Assembly seats that it had held.
UP is also the state PM Modi represents in the Lok Sabha - he is the MP from Varanasi.
The BJP, which has a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, needs to better its numbers in the Rajya Sabha to be able to push important economic reforms in the next few years. For that it needs to win more states - Rajya Sabha seats are determined by numbers a party has in state assemblies.
Mr Mathur was the election in-charge for Maharashtra, where the party enjoyed its biggest-ever victory in the recently-held assembly elections, winning 123 of 288 seats.
Maharashtra will now be looked after by another senior party leader JP Nadda. Mr Nadda will also be the BJP leader in-charge of Rajasthan; both are now BJP-ruled states.
Former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy has been given charge of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Tamil Nadu votes in 2016 and is not a state where the BJP has had significant presence. Mr Rudy earlier had charge of Maharashtra.
Party Secretary Sidhharth Nath Singh has retained the charge of West Bengal. Poonam Mahajan, the daughter of late Maharashtra leader Pramod Mahajan and a Member of Parliament from Mumbai, has been made the in-charge of the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Mr Mathur just oversaw the state elections in Maharashtra, in which the BJP has registered its strongest performance ever. Winning UP in 2017, is the most important piece in the BJP's plans to expand its influence in the states, and Mr Mathur will have his task cut out.
After virtually sweeping the state in the national elections earlier this year, courtesy a watertight strategy prepared by Amit Shah, the BJP had suffered a setback in by-elections held last month losing seven Assembly seats that it had held.
UP is also the state PM Modi represents in the Lok Sabha - he is the MP from Varanasi.
The BJP, which has a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, needs to better its numbers in the Rajya Sabha to be able to push important economic reforms in the next few years. For that it needs to win more states - Rajya Sabha seats are determined by numbers a party has in state assemblies.
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