BJP to name new national president before Bihar polls amid delays: Sources

The Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to announce a new National President before the Bihar Assembly election schedule is made public, NDTV reported on Friday. The leadership change, however, has been held up due to multiple factors, insiders said, even though the party intends to contest the crucial polls under fresh central leadership.

According to sources, one of the main reasons for the delay is the wide-ranging consultations that have been underway. Senior BJP leaders, along with functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), have reached out to around 100 prominent figures to gather inputs on possible candidates. The discussions have included former party chiefs, senior Union ministers, and veterans linked with both the BJP and RSS who have also held constitutional offices.

Another factor complicating the timeline is the upcoming vice presidential election scheduled for September 9. The BJP had not expected a vacancy in this post so soon, but the sudden resignation of Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar last month made the contest inevitable. The party is now focused on ensuring its nominee, Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan, secures a comfortable victory with the widest possible support.

Organisational elections in key states are also a reason for the hold-up. The BJP is in the process of finalising presidents for its units in states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka. Party rules stipulate that at least 19 of its 36 state and union territory units must have elected presidents before a new National President can be chosen. Sources said that while elections have already been completed in 28 states, important units such as Haryana, Delhi, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Manipur remain pending. In Punjab, the party has only appointed a working president for now.

The current national president, JP Nadda, who was first elected in January 2020, has already received two extensions after the completion of his three-year term. His tenure was initially prolonged to steer the organisation through the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and later extended again to complete the ongoing internal restructuring.

The BJP is also applying a similar framework at lower levels of its organisation. For mandal chiefs, the party has capped the age limit at under 40 to promote younger leadership. For district and state presidents, a minimum of ten years of active membership is now mandatory. This rule, party insiders said, was introduced to address resentment among grassroots workers who felt sidelined as leaders switching from other parties were being given senior organisational roles.