BJP leader Jagat Prakash Nadda will continue to be the party chief till June 2024, till the new government is formed after the general elections. The decision to give an extension to Nadda was unanimously taken by the BJP’s national executive which is meeting in Delhi. His name was endorsed by the party’s parliamentary board.
Home minister and former party chief Amit Shah broke the news to the media at a hurriedly called press conference. “There is a good news. The national executive has decided that BJP chief J.P. Nadda be given extension till June 2024,” Shah said as he credited Nadda with excellent organisation work and success in various elections held during his tenure.
Explaining the process, Shah said elections are conducted according to party constitution after membership drive. He said currently, the membership drive was on, as it is conducted every six years. As some organisational process couldn’t be completed due to Covid-19, the existing party units get constitutional extension, and in the process, the party chief too gets an extension.
Rajnath Singh proposed Nadda’s name and everyone agreed to it. “He became national president in January 2020. Under his leadership, the BJP members rose to the occasion to tackle the challenges presented by the pandemic,” Shah said.
“Under his presidency, we got maximum strike rate in Bihar and Maharashtra. We also won elections in Haryana, Uttarakhand, Assam, and Gujarat. In Bengal, the BJP covered the distance from three to 77 seats. We are becoming a potent force in Tamil Nadu and Telangana,” Shah said. “In Gujarat, we broke all records with 53 per cent vote share and 156 seats. Nadda helped in converting Modi’s popularity into votes. He made a big contribution in building organisation”.
BJP had won elections in the Northeast, but it was under Nadda’s tenure that organisation expansion took place there. During his tenure, 120 elections, including assembly, local and civic bodies, were held, out of which the BJP won 73.
Modi had set a target of strengthening the party organisation at 70,000 booths ahead of the Lok Sabh polls, but under Nadda, the party reached out and strengthened 1.32 lakh booths. He made Tiranga Yatra a success, as the flag was hoisted in 4.15 crore homes.
“He helped in making Mann ki Baath, a people’s programme. Vijay sankalp' and 'Apna boot sabsee majboot' are his gifts to the organisationion. Modi will win again 2024 with big margin,” Shah said.
Born on December 2, 1960 to Dr. Narain Lall Nadda and Shrimati Krishna Nadda, Jagat Prakash was educated at St. Xaviers School, Patna. Thereafter, he did his B.A. from Patna College, Patna University and LL.B. from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. As a child, he represented Bihar state in the All India Junior Swimming Championship held at Delhi.
On December 11, 1991, he married Dr. Mallika Nadda and the couple have two sons. His mother-in-law is former Lok Sabha MP Jayshree Banerjee.
He entered politics in 1975 when he joined the then ongoing Sampurna Kranti movement started by Jaya Prakash Narayan during Emergency. He joined ABVP while studying in Patna University and entered student activism. He was elected as Secretary, Patna University Students’ Union in 1977 as an ABVP candidate. In 1987, he had to face a 45-day detention for organising an anti-government campaign against the ruling Congress by forming a Rashtriya Sangharsh Morcha. During the Lok Sabha polls held in 1989, he was assigned a major responsibility as election in-charge of the BJP’s youth wing when he was just 29 years old.
He has been a cabinet minister in Himachal Pradesh. He also shouldered the responsibilities of BJP national general secretary and member-secretary of BJP parliamentary board. He held the position of Union health minister in the first Modi government.
