J P Nadda's tenure as BJP chief extended till June 2024

BJP's decision to go forward to the 2024 elections with Nadda at the helm indicates the party does not want to experiment in a pre-election year

On the concluding day of its National Executive meet, leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party unanimously agreed to extend the presidency of Jagat Prasad Nadda till June 2024. Making the announcement, union home minister Amit Shah said that under Nadda at the helm, the party will better its 2019 tally of 303, and elect Narendra Modi for a third term.

Responding to the decision, Nadda sent out a statement, saying that his rise to the party’s top post from being a student leader in Himachal Pradesh could only occur in a democratic party like the BJP. “It is only possible in the BJP that a simple karyakarta like me from a small state like Himachal Pradesh, who started his political journey as a student activist, could steadily rise up the ranks, shouldering several responsibilities all the way to becoming the National President of the world’s largest political party,” Nadda’s statement read.

Shah said that the party could not carry out its elections due to Covid, necessitating the extension. “As one of the most democratic parties, from the times of the Jan Sangh, the BJP has held timely elections democratically through the booth, mandal, and state levels every six years, but we could not do so due to the Covid pandemic. This being a pre-election year, we are continuing with our tradition of a membership drive,” Shah said.

He added that there are previous instances where party presidents have earned an extension; Shah, a former president himself, had earned an extension. Another former president, union defence minister Rajnath Singh, proposed Nadda’s extension.

The party’s decision to go forward to the 2024 elections with Nadda at the helm indicates that the BJP does not want to experiment in a pre-election year. Nadda was elected as the president on January 20, 2020, just weeks before Covid hit.

During his term, Shah said, the BJP won 73 of the 120 assembly elections that the party has contested. “Under his leadership, in Bihar, we managed the highest strike rate in Bihar, came back to power in Maharashtra under the National Democratic Alliance, and formed governments in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Assam, and Gujarat,” Shah told reporters.

“In Bengal, we went from 3 seats to 77 in the matter of a year and in South India, we are emerging from strength to strength in states like Tamil Nadu and Telangana. In the Northeast, where we have won elections, the party structure has been strengthened,” Shah added.

Shah also spoke about the party’s booth strengthening exercise and said that they reached out to 1,30,000 booths during Nadda’s tenure. “Apart from that, the Lok Sabha Pravas programme and the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign have met with great success,” he said.