As it prepares for assembly elections slated early next year, the ruling BJP Wednesday announced that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will be in charge of Uttar Pradesh while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi will oversee the party’s election preparations in Uttarakhand.
Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat has been assigned Punjab, where the BJP is under fire for the contentious farm laws, and Environment, Forests and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav will be in charge of Manipur.
The BJP is in power in all these poll-bound states except in Punjab, where its traditional ally Shiromani Akali Dal had quit the NDA over the farm laws.
In Uttar Pradesh, where a victory is crucial for the BJP for return to power in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Pradhan will be assisted by Union Ministers Anurag Singh Thakur, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Sobha Karandlaje, Annapurna Devi, former Haryana state minister Capt Abhimanyu, senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Saroj Pande and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Thakur.
Lok Sabha MP Locket Chatterjee and party spokesperson R P Singh will be co in charge for Uttarakhand with Joshi. The BJP has recently changed its chief minister in Uttarakhand — the third one in this assembly term. The appointment of Pushkar Singh Dhami, who has replaced Tirath Singh Rawat who was chief minister of the state for just four months, has given fresh hopes of return to power for the state unit, which was otherwise riddled with internal feud and anti-incumbency.
Bhupender Yadav, who had managed the BJP’s campaign and election works in a number of key states like Gujarat and Bihar among others, will be assisted by Union Ministers Pratima Bhaumik and Assam Minister Ashok Singhal.
Shekhawat will get a helping hand from Union Ministers Hardip Puri, Meenakshi Lekhi and Lok Sabha MP Vinod Chawda for managing the election preparations in Punjab.
