Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan (L) and Union Minister of Environment Bhupender Yadav (R).
Credit: PTI
New Delhi: The BJP on Thursday announced poll in-charges for Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been appointed as in-charge for Bihar, with Union minister CR Patil, and UP deputy CM Keshav Maurya as co-incharge.
Union Minister Bhupender Yadav will be in charge of West Bengal, where he will be assisted by former Tripura CM Biplab Deb.
BJP president JP Nadda also appointed Baijayant Panda as the poll in-charge of Tamil Nadu, with Murlidhar Mohol as his deputy.
Pradhan, who delivered a win in Haryana last year, has been given the task to steer the party in the face of mounting pressure from the RJD-Congress combine.
Senior party leaders said Pradhan, over the years, has featured in BJP’s strategic push in states like Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
While the saffron party has stitched a social coalition in the state, deputing both Patil and Maurya apart from Pradhan is a signal that the party wants to keep the caste equation intact.
In West Bengal, the BJP faces steep odds, with TMC’s Mamata Banerjee expected to give a tough time to the saffron party. The lack of organisational heft for the BJP is a key concern.
In Tamil Nadu, where the BJP is yet to make significant progress, the party managed to gather 11% of votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections without NDA ally AIADMK.
PM to credit Rs 10k each to 75L women in Bihar
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Bihar’s “Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana” on Friday and transfer Rs 10,000 each to the bank accounts of 75 lakh women across the state, totalling Rs 7,500 crore.
Officials said the scheme is aimed at making women “aatmanirbhar” (self-dependent) and promoting empowerment through self-employment and livelihood opportunities.
The scheme is universal in nature, under which financial assistance will be provided to one woman from each family in the state, enabling them to start employment or livelihood activities of their choice.
(With PTI inputs)