After the BJP appointed Sandeep Pathak, a former AAP party member who defected to the BJP, to Nitin Nabin’s team as National Secretary, speculations are rife that Raghav Chadha may also be appointed to a prominent role in the party.
In April, seven Aam Aadmi Party members, including Sandeep Pathak and Raghav Chadha, defected to join the BJP.
Earlier, there were speculations that Raghav Chadha may be given a role in the party organisation due to the approaching Punjab elections, which are scheduled to be early next year.
About three dozen leaders, consisting of both women and younger members, were appointed to roles in the BJP organisation on Monday.
Since Chadha did not appear on the list, there are now speculations that he may be given a position in the cabinet, as he is a fresh face to the party.
Union minister and RPI chief Ramdan Athawale said on Monday that a reshuffle could happen very soon. The cabinet reshuffle is expected to include the leaders who have defected from other parties to the BJP.
Chadha is considered one of the strong contenders as he is popular with a younger demographic for his advocacy for youth and worker issues.
Sandeep Pathak is also a defector from the AAP. He had helped build the party’s 2022 election campaign. He was also a full-time academic and researcher before he entered politics. He previously studied at Cambridge and Oxford and worked as an assistant professor at IIT Delhi. Pathak’s appointment as general secretary is believed to be due to his prior experience in the AAP.
It is believed that the BJP could benefit from Pathak’s organisational experience in states like Punjab.
The seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs who joined the BJP in April included Raghav Chadha, Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, Ashok Mittal, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Rajinder Gupta and Pathak.
On Monday, the BJP national president announced his new team consisting of 13 leaders. The list includes former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Tirath Singh Rawat, Ram Madhav, and Baijayant Panda from Uttarakhand.
Apart from this, D. Purandeshwari, Rekha Verma, Varsha Ben Narendrabhai Doshi, Dr Bharti Pawar, Manpreet Singh Badal, Lal Singh Arya, Prof. M. Nagaraja, Prof. Tariq Mansoor and Dr Madhuchandra Kar have also been given the responsibility of Vice Presidents.
