Bharatiya Janata Party Announces New State Presidents for Four States, Two Leaders Have a Political Background from Congress

The Bharatiya Janata Party announced new state presidents for four states on Thursday. Among the four leaders who have been given the responsibility, two are faces whose political journey began not with the BJP, but with the Congress. This is being seen as a sign of a major change in the BJP's organizational thinking. In Punjab, the party has made senior leader Sardar Keval Singh Dhillon the state president. Dhillon was active in Congress politics for a long time and is considered to have a good influence in the Malwa region. He was elected as a MLA from Barnala on a Congress ticket in 2007 and 2012. In the 2012 elections, he recorded a significant victory. Additionally, he has also held the responsibility of Vice President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. However, in later years, his political graph weakened somewhat. He faced defeat in the 2017 assembly elections and the 2019 Sangrur Lok Sabha elections. After this, he left the Congress and joined the BJP. Now, by giving him the command of the Punjab unit, the party has indicated that it wants to move forward in the state's politics with new equations. Abhishek Debroy to lead in Tripura In Tripura, Abhishek Debroy has been made the state president. He is currently handling the responsibility of the BJP organization in the Gomati district and was also elected as a MLA in 2023. Interestingly, his initial political journey was also associated with the Congress. Later, he joined the BJP and has now reached an important position in the organization. Generally, the BJP has made non-BJP leaders the Chief Minister in several states, but in the organization, the party has usually given opportunities to leaders who are part of the party's core cadre. However, in Punjab, the BJP had earlier made Sunil Jakhar, who has a non-BJP background, the state president in 2023. BJP's changed strategy The BJP has long been considered a cadre-based and ideologically disciplined party, where major organizational positions are usually given to leaders who have been associated with the party and its ideological framework for years. However, in recent times, the party has changed its strategy, especially in states where it feels the need to expand based on social and regional equations. Punjab is being seen as a major example of this. Earlier, in 2023, Sunil Jakhar, who came to the BJP from the Congress, was also made the state president. In this context, the appointment of Keval Singh Dhillon is being seen as an extension of the same strategy. Although the BJP has an image of giving limited opportunities to external leaders in the organization, the party has earlier given significant responsibilities to leaders who have come from other parties at the level of power and government. Major positions given to leaders from other parties Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Bihar's Samrat Chaudhary, Subhendu Adhikari in West Bengal, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, and former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh are examples of leaders who have achieved important positions in the BJP after coming from other parties. The BJP is now giving more importance to local leaders with influence in states where the party is in the process of expansion. This gives the party a dual advantage - on the one hand, it gets to associate strong faces from the opposition, and on the other hand, it tries to increase acceptance at the local level. Looking at these appointments, it can be said that the BJP is not hesitating to experiment with organizational changes according to electoral needs and social equations, rather than being limited to traditional cadre politics.