4 min readNew DelhiJan 31, 2026 03:33 AM IST
First published on: Jan 30, 2026 at 02:49 PM IST
In what is being viewed as an “audition” ahead of big organisational changes, BJP leaders from across the country being picked for the coming Assembly polls may stand a chance of joining new party president Nitin Nabin’s team based on their performance.
BJP sources said around a dozen leaders from the party’s national ranks, some of whom have a clear connection to the capital’s political circles, have been vetted for Assam, one of the first poll-bound states Nabin visited after taking charge. The process is underway to put in place similar teams for West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Puducherry in the coming days. All four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry go to the polls in the next few months.
“This team for Assam, which will function as the bridge between the BJP and the RSS in the state and the national leadership in New Delhi, includes a mix of both young and experienced hands under the overall leadership of the state’s election in-charge Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda. It was put in place by BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh last week,” said a BJP leader.
“Leaders chosen to be part of the team, such as New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj, Delhi minister Parvesh Verma, R K Puram MLA Anil Sharma, and Uttam Nagar MLA Pawan Sharma, among others, have either been assigned specific statewide tasks for management of election-related affairs in one to two Lok Sabha seats, each,” said a leader.
A senior functionary pointed out that this team, which also includes “tried and tested hands” such as Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash and national secretary Alka Gurjar, among others, was composed of “committed and loyal karyakartas”.
From specific duties such as crunching numbers related to demography and booth-level management to managing the perception among voters, these leaders will have several tasks at hand. Their performance will decide where they are placed in the larger organisational structure during Nabin’s innings, said a source.
The leaders who have been picked for Assam have links to the RSS and have risen through the ranks of the Sangh’s student wing ABVP and the BJP’s Yuva Morcha, a leader said. While the two Delhi legislators chosen have served in the BJP organisation in the capital for decades, Swaraj and Verma are considered “close to the BJP national leadership”.
“As the polls get closer, these leaders, who have already visited Assam and have been introduced to its current organisational leadership on the ground there, will spend more and more time overseeing the election preparation and are likely to play a key role in decisions related to ticket distribution,” said a leader.
“More leaders are being identified for similar duties in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry; a post-result analysis of the performance of such leaders being deployed by the party in other states will likely add to their chances of organisational advancement under the new dispensation,” said the leader.
Why this is different
This is not the first time that BJP leaders from across the national level have been deployed to different states for election duty. However, this time there is the added dimension of maintaining “organisational continuity” under a new president, according to party insiders. Another senior leader said this also means that Nabin’s new team and the accompanying organisational changes were still “some time away”.
The 45-year-old Nabin’s team is expected to be a mix of fresh faces and experienced hands. While his appointment as the BJP president has been called the party’s attempt at making a “generational shift” in its leadership, BJP insiders also pointed out that several prominent leaders were scheduled to retire from the Rajya Sabha this year, while there could be a Cabinet reshuffle as the NDA government closes in on the halfway mark of its third term.