JP Nadda is New BJP President

New Delhi: BJP working president Jagat Prakash Nadda, who has long been seen as the choice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah for the job, on Monday officially took over the reins of the BJP from Amit Shah.

Top party leaders, including Union ministers and those from states, were present at the BJP headquarters to file nominations in support of Nadda.

Nadda’s name was proposed by Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari — the party’s ex-chiefs and parliamentary board members.

An old BJP workhorse, Nadda was appointed as the party’s working president in July last year in an indication that the Himachal Pradesh leader was the likely choice for the top organisational job.

In the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election, he was in-charge of the BJP’s election campaign in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, where the party faced a tough challenge from the grand alliance of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The party won 62 out of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.