Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh, 53, was named by BJP national president Nitin Nabin on Tuesday as the party's Gujarat in-charge with immediate effect as part of the ongoing leadership change. Union Minister Bhupender Yadav, 57, has been in charge of Gujarat for the BJP for almost ten years.
Additionally, Nabin designated Jagdish Patel, 62, the BJP's recently appointed national secretary from Gujarat, as the party's co-in-charge for Uttar Pradesh. It has been revealed that Patel, who is well-known for being close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was instrumental in his victory in Varanasi during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Bhupender Yadav's stint ends The BJP won 99 seats in the 182-member Assembly in the state elections in December, but it did so by the narrowest margin since 1995. With 77 seats won, the Congress had its best performance since 1995.
However, the Patidar group was placated and the BJP was able to recover. It secured a record 156 seats in the Gujarat Assembly in the 2022 election.
Amit Shah, the party president at the time, chose Yadav, a Lok Sabha MP from neighboring Rajasthan and currently the Union Minister for Forest, Environment, and Climate Change, as the Gujarat in-charge. When the Patidar quota agitation threatened to erode Gujarat's fundamental support base, he was appointed.
Chugh, a Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh, will now focus on the 2027 Assembly elections, which will take place following Gen Z's political maturation. The 2029 Lok Sabha elections would be another chore on his list. In Gujarat, the Congress only secured one seat in the general election of 2024. All 26 of the state's parliamentary seats were won by the BJP in 2014 and 2019.
"The 2027 Gujarat elections are likely to set the tone for the 2029 general election," a BJP source stated. semifinal. Chugh's task in 2022 will be to replicate the party's outstanding performance.
Jagdish Patel: A key role for the backroom lad It is noteworthy that Jagdish Patel was appointed as the BJP's co-in-charge for Uttar Pradesh. The co-in-charge position came after Patel was named the party's national general secretary on Monday.
Prime Minister Modi is reportedly close to Patel. He is thought to have been a major factor in the Prime Minister's victory in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"PM Modi's victory margin would have been narrow if Patel hadn't been present in Varanasi in 2024," a BJP leader stated.
Prime Minister Modi won the Varanasi seat again in the 2024 election, however his margin of victory dropped from almost 4.7 lakh votes in 2019 to 1.52 lakh votes in 2024. In 2024, the party's seat score fell by 29 in Uttar Pradesh. The impending Uttar Pradesh election would be Patel's first significant hurdle when he assumes his new position.
Patel, a former MLA from Ahmedabad's Amraiwadi constituency, is a member of the Patidar community's Kadva Patidar sub-caste. He has held important positions in the Gujarat BJP, leading the district units of Mehsana, Gandhinagar, Bhavnagar, and Surendranagar as well as the Ahmedabad city unit. Additionally, he served as an Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation corporator.
Patel works as a businessman in the engineering field and is interested in both indigenous development and space defense.
"Patel has been handling the affairs of Uttar Pradesh for some time now," a party insider stated. It has a formal tag because of the most recent appointment. In Uttar Pradesh, he is carrying out the responsibilities previously held by the late Sunil Oza.
Oza, a native of Bhavnagar, Gujarat, passed away in December 2023 from a heart attack.
"I have been working in UP for the past three years," Patel said to The Indian Express. I've been there since before the elections in 2024. I will now formally work there. When asked about the difficulties facing the BJP in the next elections, particularly in light of the Gen Z protests, Patel responded, "There is no such major issue in UP." It's a special location. The development effort carried out by Modiji and Yogiji (Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath) is sufficient. Work around Rs 70,000 crore has been completed in Varanasi alone. Thus, there has been a significant developmental shift. Protests have no effect on the local electorate. The UP population has a very different disposition.
"People used to come to Gujarat (for work)," he continued. Those who have visited Gujarat are now returning. It indicates a shift in the trend. There are many of ways to make a living there. Seventy percent of the workers at my industrial gear plant are from UP-Bihar. I now have to mail them a ticket to return when they get home. These days, it is necessary to ask a laborer who has gone to their original country to return. That is the circumstance.
