Nitin Nabin takes charge as BJP’s working president

NEW new delhi: Nitin Nabin, the newly-appointed subject workings chairwoman of the Bharatiya Janata company (BJP), was on Monday given a rousing reception at the party headquarters in Delhi as he assumed charge of his new role in the presence of several senior leaders, including party chief JP Nadda and Union home minister Amit Shah.Nabin, 45, a minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Bihar, was appointed as the BJP national working president — a post carved out in the party in 2019 — on Sunday.“He took over as the working president…and will over the course of the month get acquainted with his role and other organisational duties,” a party functionary said.A five-time legislator, Nabin is expected to be formally appointed as the BJP president after January 14, party leaders said. “January 14 is Makar Sankranti and marks the end of the Khar Maas, a 30-day period that began today and is not considered particularly auspicious,” the functionary added.He will take over from JP Nadda, who was also appointed as the working president in 2019 before being elected as the party president in January 2020.Nabin, who flew in from Patna earlier in the day, was felicitated at the BJP headquarters in the presence of Nadda, Shah, and Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan, among others.Both Nadda and Shah congratulated Nabin on assuming the charge of the working president post, saying his organisational skills will provide a new direction to the party’s journey of public service and nation-building.“I am fully confident that under the guidance of hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, your organisational skills will provide a new direction to the BJP’s journey of public service and nation-building. At the same time, you will take the BJP government’s public welfare policies and the organisation’s ideas to the people with even greater resolve,” Nadda said in a post in Hindi on X.Shah, a former BJP chief, in a post on X said: “I am confident that under your leadership, the organisation will expand even further and you will take the policies of the Modi government and the party’s ideology to every individual.”Before departing from Patna earlier in the day, Nabin said his priority would be to strengthen the organisation and create a new leadership in the party. He also thanked the BJP’s leadership for reposing their trust in him. “The BJP not only promotes youths but also guides and curates them to achieve larger goals. It is the only party that allows its grassroots workers to thrive,” he told reporters before leaving for Delhi.Nabin, who is Bihar’s PWD minister, paid floral tributes to his late father and former BJP legislator Nabin Kishor Prasad Sinha, and also visited Patna’s Mahavir Mandir to offer prayers.“My endeavour would be to make the party ‘sarvavyapi’ (omnipresent) and ‘sarvasparshi’ (all-encompassing) … It is with the blessings of my father that I have reached where I am in these 20 years. I will begin the journey ahead with the blessings of my father,” he added.Party leaders describe Nabin as a disciplined leader, well versed in the BJP’s ideology and work ethic. “He has been very active since his Yuva Morcha days. He has not been a controversial leader and is humble. We do not expect senior leaders to face any difficulty in working with him, given he is only 45,” the functionary cited above said. Soon after assuming office, Nabin called on defence minister Rajnath Singh as his residence.Nabin will have to hit the ground running as the BJP has already begun preparations for the next year’s assembly polls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry and Assam.On Monday, the BJP appointed Jay Panda as the poll in-charge of Assam, a position he held in 2021 as well. He will be assisted by Sunil Kumar Sharma, an MLA from Jammu, and former union minister Darshana Ben Jardosh. Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal will take over as the election in-charge of Tamil Nadu, while Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Murlidhar Mohol will be the co-incharges in the southern state, where the BJP has reinked its alliance with the AIADMK.(With inputs from Vijay Swaroop in Patna)