Punjab’s Tarun Chugh retained in core central BJP team ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, July 30

Senior BJP leader from Punjab Tarun Chugh has been retained as national general secretary of the BJP in the party revamp exercise on Saturday, ahead of 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Narinder Singh Raina, a Sikh leader from the state, also stays as BJP national secretary.

Chugh’s reappointment as general secretary, the most important organisational position in the BJP, is significant and makes him the first leader from Punjab to become a BJP office-bearer for four times in a row and national general secretary twice in a row.

He was appointed BJP general secretary for the first time in 2021 and has survived a major rejig today.

The 38-member team of BJP national office-bearers announced by party chief JP Nadda today has only two leaders from Punjab and none from Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

The co-treasurer Naresh Bansal from Uttarakhand is the only other leader from the region.

Chugh’s retention was evident as he had of late been gaining prominence in the BJP. He was organisational coordinator for the pan India “Nine Years of Modi government” outreach programme which involved events at BJP’s 10 lakh booths across the country and has so far overseen poll management for the BJP in a record 16 states.

Chugh hails from an Amritsar family whose three generations have been in the RSS. He started out as a BJP booth in-charge in 1989 steadily working his way up the organisational ladder.