JP Nadda Takes Oath: Who Will Lead BJP Next? Top Five Probable Contenders for Party’s Top Post

New Delhi: BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda on Sunday took oath as a cabinet minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ministry. Nadda’s tenure, which was originally slated to conclude in January 2023, was extended until June 2024 in light of the Lok Sabha elections. This development has ignited speculation regarding the identity of the next BJP president.

The conjecture gained momentum especially after several leaders, previously touted as potential successors – such as CR Paatil, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and Bhupender Yadav – were all incorporated into the Union cabinet.

Here are some of the potential names:

Anurag Thakur

• Anurag Thakur was considered as one of the best-performing ministers in the Modi 2.0 cabinet.
• The former Union Minister held portfolios like sports and information and broadcasting in the previous Modi government
• Thakur has been re-elected from the Hamirpur seat in Himachal Pradesh for the fifth time in a row.
• A former president of BJP’s youth wing, Thakur is also not a stranger to organisational work.
• However, making Thakur the BJP chief would mean having two Himachalis in the top position in a row, with JP Nadda also being from the state.

Sunil Bansal

• Sunil Bansal currently BJP’s national general secretary.
• Bansal is known to be the architect of the BJP’s success in Uttar Pradesh under PM Modi and Amit Shah.
• He was the co-incharge of UP along with Amit Shah in 2014 and the main incharge for the 2017 Assembly elections and 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the state.
• After the UP success, he was tasked with boosting the BJP in Odisha and Telangana.

Vinod Tawde

• Tawde is a national general secretary
• Tawde was elevated after a spectacular performance as national secretary.
• He was the coordinator for the BJP’s campaign in the states where elections took place in the 2022 election cycle.
• Tawde is from an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad background and has been a minister in Maharashtra.
• Tawde is known to be a soft-spoken and methodical leader who has made the transition from state to national politics very effectively.

Om Birla

• The Speaker of the outgoing Lok Sabha, Birla is also from an RSS and ABVP background.
• He has been re-elected from the Kota constituency, albeit by a reduced margin.
• Birla enjoys the trust of both PM Modi and Amit Shah as well as the RSS.

BL Santhosh

BL Santhosh is presently general secretary (organisation) in the BJP and already a power centre in the party. He has also been an RSS pracharak and known to be effective in the ideological training of cadres.