BJP appoints senior leaders to steer state units ahead of 2027 polls

BJP on Wednesday announced senior officials to manage party affairs in 36 states and union territories that will vote by 2027. National vice‑president Ram Madhav was given charge of Uttarakhand, where elections are scheduled for early next year, and will also head Tamil Nadu. Former national secretary Arvind Menon and Lok Sabha MP Bansuri Swaraj will assist him in Uttarakhand, while MP DK Aruna and Nirmal Kumar Surana will serve as co‑in‑charges in Tamil Nadu. National general secretary Vinod Tawde was named in‑charge of Uttar Pradesh, a state the party has ruled since 2017. Satish Poonia, another national general secretary, will oversee Punjab, supported by former Delhi unit head Virendra Sachdeva and Alka Gurjar; reports say the party is still negotiating an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal. Poonia also received the Jammu and Kashmir portfolio. Sunil Bansal will continue to supervise West Bengal and Telangana. Former union minister Bharti Pawar will lead the Goa campaign with Anil Anthony as co‑in‑charge; Anthony will also handle Nagaland. Assam minister Rajdeep Roy was assigned to Manipur, where the BJP faces ethnic tension between Meitis and Kukis. Smriti Irani was given the Chhattisgarh and Haryana units, while Harish Diwedi will look after Bihar and Karnataka. Former MP Arvind Bhadhoria will head Andhra Pradesh with Vanathi Srinivasan as co‑in‑charge. Rajya Sabha MP Phangnon Konyak will manage Assam, and former RS MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe will take Delhi, aided by former minister Darshanaben Jardosh and former Ladakh president Jamyang Namgyal. Tarun Chugh will run Gujarat, Srikant Sharma will be in charge of Himachal Pradesh, Gajendra Patel will handle Jharkhand and M Nagaraja will oversee Kerala. Rajkumar Bhatia will look after Ladakh and former minister George Kurien will manage Lakshadweep. Biplab Deb will steer Madhya Pradesh, Bijayant Panda will head Maharashtra with co‑in‑charges Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Sadanand Tanavade and Amit Malviya. K Purkhayastha will be in charge of Meghalaya, Bhagwat Karad will handle Mizoram, D Purandeshwari will oversee Odisha with K Surendran assisting, Sanjay Bhatia will manage Rajasthan, and Raju Bista and Mriganka Deo Barman will be responsible for Tripura.