Five-time MLA ex-minister Sanjay Saraogi appointed BJP's new Bihar unit president

    New Delhi/Patna, Dec 15 (PTI) The BJP on Monday appointed Sanjay Saraogi as its Bihar unit president, a month after the saffron party-led NDA swept the assembly polls in the eastern state.
    Saraogi, 57, a former cabinet minister in the Bihar government, is an MLA from Dharbhanga constituency. He succeeds Dilip Jaiswal, who was appointed to the post less than two years ago.
    "Bharatiya Janata Party national president Jagat Prakash Nadda has appointed Sanjay Saraogi as the state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar with immediate effect," BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said in a notification.
    Reacting to the appointment, Saraogi told reporters that BJP is a party in which even a simple worker can reach any level.
    “The party has given me this responsibility, and I will deliver my best. For me, the party is like my mother. We will work together to strengthen the BJP, and ensure better coordination between the state government and the party,” he said.
    “The BJP is the only party where the performance of each and every worker is noticed,” Saraogi asserted.
    In a post on X, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar congratulated Saraogi on becoming the BJP's new Bihar unit president.
    “He has worked with us as a ministerial colleague in the state cabinet. He has been elected as an MLA for the fifth time. Best wishes to him for this new responsibility,” Kumar said.
    Assembly Speaker Prem Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary also greeted Saraogi.
    “Under your leadership, the Bihar BJP organisation will certainly carry out historic work with a new energy and a spirit of public service,” Choudhary wrote on X.
    Later, speaking to reporters, the Deputy CM said: “Saraogi’s appointment as Bihar BJP chief is like a double dose for the party… the first dose was the appointment of Nitin Nabin as the national working president. The decision of the top leadership will enable the BJP to stand strong in the 2029-30 elections.”
    Jaiswal is understood to have been replaced in keeping with the BJP’s stated policy of ‘one person one post’. Last year, he had resigned from the Nitish Kumar cabinet upon becoming the state BJP president, replacing Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary.
    Saraogi was inducted into the state cabinet in February this year, and allocated the crucial Revenue and Land Reform portfolio.
    However, many eyebrows were raised when he was not included in the new ministry formed last month, after NDA’s resounding victory, with the BJP emerging as the single-largest party.
    Often known to adopt a hard-line stance on issues, Saragoi started his political career as student activist of the ABVP and, later, became an active member of the Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM) before being appointed the Darbhanga city unit president of the BJP in 2001.
    He made his electoral debut in the 2005 assembly polls from Darbhanga, and has been winning the seat on the trot since then.
    Like Jaiswal, Saragoi is also a Vaishya, a caste group, which may not be politically dominant in Bihar, but forms the core support base of the BJP.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)