Demure yet firm, JP Nadda weathers HP loss to stay BJP chief

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, January 17

The demure yet firm Jagat Prakash Nadda on Tuesday weathered the recent storm of Himachal Pradesh election loss to retain his position as BJP president with the party’s national executive led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi unanimously resolving to extend his tenure till June 2024 until after the Lok Sabha election that year.

Rising through the ranks, Nadda, a former three-term Himachal Pradesh MLA, ex-state minister and former Union Cabinet minister, will oversee the 2024 General elections for the BJP which is eyeing a record third term at the Centre with Narendra Modi as PM.

Today’s re-election spells a massive responsibility for Nadda, considered a BJP hattrick at the centre would mean that PM Modi will be only the second PM after late Jawahar Lal Nehru to lead their party to three consecutive terms at the Centre.

That explains the historical importance of the next general election for the saffron party.

Nadda now joins the league of LK Advani and Amit Shah to get a second tenure as BJP chief.

Importantly, Nadda’s continuation as BJP chief signals his massive clout in the party where PM and Shah call the shots with PM well known as a hard task master.

The fact that Nadda gets to stay BJP chief despite BJP loss in his own home state of Himachal Pradesh means the party values his striving across the country with the ongoing National Executive meeting also underlining the fact that Himachal was lost only by a whisker — less than 1 per cent vote margin.

Union home minister Amit Shah while announcing the decision to grant Nadda an extension of tenure listed a host of electoral achievements under Nadda including Haryana, UP, Uttarakhand, Assam, Manipur, Goa, Gujarat and the party’s performance in the last Bihar elections, followed by Maharashtra where the BJP and Shiv Sena combined had won the previous poll, even though Shiv Sena went on to ally with Congress and NCP to form the government.

Shah also mentioned the fact that the BJP under Nadda was slowly emerging in Telangana and had gone from 3 to 77 seats in West Bengal assembly in just five years.

A two-term Rajya Sabha MP (2012 and then 2018), Nadda had recently said he was equally concerned about elections in Gujarat and Himachal even though he belonged to Himachal.

The party today rewarded him for multiple electoral wins capped by the 2022 historic Gujarat mandate for the BJP, with Himachal loss treated as an exception.

Party sources said with age on his side Nadda, 62, had a long way to go.