BJP appoints new state presidents in big rejig ahead of 2024

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Jul 04, 2023: In a big organisational rejig ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday appointed new state chiefs for Punjab, Telangana, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.

The party has named Union Minister G Kishan Reddy, Sunil Jakhar, former union minister D Purandeswari and Babulal Marandi as its president in Telangana, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand respectively.

HERE’S THE FULL LIST OF NEW STATE PRESIDENTS

    * Union Minister G Kishan Reddy will lead the BJP’s Telangana unit. He will replace Bandi Sanjay Kumar, a fellow BJP MP from Karimnagar.

    * Sunil Jakhar will head the Punjab unit of the BJP and replaced Ashwani Sharma. Jakhar, a three-time MLA and one-time MP, quit the Congress last year and joined the BJP. Incidentally, he had served as the chief of the Congress’s Punjab unit earlier.

    * Former Union Minister D Purandeswari has been appointed as the BJP president for Andhra Pradesh. She will succeed Somu Veerraju, who will be accommodated in a suitable position in the party, according to sources.

    * In Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi replaces Deepak Prakash as the new BJP state chief. Babulal Marandi was the first chief minister of Jharkhand.

Additionally, the BJP has also roped in former Telangana minister Etala Rajendra as the chairperson of the party’s election management committee in the southern state.

Meanwhile, former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has been named as a member of the BJP’s national executive committee.

The current rejig is significant due to the primacy given to leaders who shifted to the BJP from other political parties. Sunil Jakhar and Etala Rajendra were earlier members of the Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) respectively.

D Purandeswari was also a member of the Congress party and served as a Union Minister in the Congress-led UPA government.

Courtesy: India Today