Organisational Overhaul For UP BJP Coming? Even Before New President Is Named, General Secretary (Organisation) Given Charge Of Telangana, Odisha And Bengal

Sunil Bansal has been promoted to the post of national general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and also given election charge of three non-NDA states -- West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana.

He was the party's general secretary (organisation) in Uttar Pradesh and is known for successfully handling three back-to-back elections in the state -- 2017 and 2022 assembly polls and 2019 parliamentary elections.

Prior to this, he was the co-in-charge of UP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as well and worked as Amit Shah's associate. NDA was able to win 73 of the 80 seats in the state where BJP won 71 of the 78 seats it contested.

It is believed that he enjoys a good rapport with the central BJP leadership, and to give Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath more space to wield his influence in organisational affairs, Bansal will be pulled out of UP.

Meanwhile Hindustan reported that Bansal himself wanted larger responsibilities after BJP's recent victory in the state. He had informed central leadership about the same and the recent decision is a positive response to his request.

Bansal will be replaced by Dharampal in UP as the party's general secretary (organisation). UP's joint general secretary (organisation) Karamveer will be the party's general secretary (organisation) in Jharkhand in place of Dharampal, a BJP statement said.

UP BJP recently witnessed another change in the organisation where Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya was appointed leader of the party's legislature in the Legislative Council. He replaced Swatantra Dev Singh.

It should be noted that Swatantra Dev Singh was also the state party president but resigned from the post last month after the completion of his three-year tenure. Since then, BJP has not got its new UP president.

Many names emerged in the race for the post, as Swarajya earlier reported. However, the delay in the appointment shows that the BJP might be seeing major organisational changes in UP.

Upcoming challenges

Bansal is believed to be a master strategiser and hence he has been given responsibilities in seemingly difficult states.

The BJP tried hard for West Bengal in the 2021 assembly elections. It managed to win a decent number of seats but the tally was lower than expected. To worsen the situation, the organisational strength has been deteriorating since then.

A few MLAs have left the party to rejoin TMC, while many workers have also abandoned the party due to BJP's inability to protect its own cadre.

Bansal will be replacing Kailash Vijayvargiya in West Bengal who managed to hold aggressive campaigning but could not keep the party together post the elections.

In Telangana, he will be replacing Tarun Chugh where elections are due in December next year. In the 2018 assembly elections, the BJP could win only one seat in the 119-member House.

The third challenge is Odisha where assembly elections will be held simultaneously with parliamentary elections. Here, Bansal has replaced D Purandareswari. Despite being the second largest party in the state, BJP is far behind Biju Janata Dal (BJD).

It was reported that BJP has already kickstarted its preparations for the state since Amit Shah's recent visit. Shah is believed to have faith in Bansal and post his assertion of forming the next government in Odisha, Bansal has been given the responsibility.

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