Nadda picked for his organisational skills

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 17

Former Union Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda was today handed over the reins of the BJP, but only as working president. Amit Shah remains in the saddle. A core member of Modi’s Cabinet in the NDA-I and Shah’s trusted aide, 59-year-old Nadda, will have to work in the shadow of the Home Minister.

The choice to manage the party affairs fell on Nadda as he has vast organisational experience, having started his political journey from being the national chief of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 1990.

Nadda, who is equally eloquent in Hindi and English, was ABVP president from 1991 to 1994. Known for his oratory skills, he made his electoral debut in 1993 when he was elected to the Vidhan Sabha from Bilaspur (Sadar) in 1993, a feat he repeated in 1998. He was inducted as Minister for Health and Family Welfare Minister in the Dhumal ministry in 1998. He again won the elections in 2007 and was made Minister for Forests, a post he held till 2010. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2012. He was again elected to the Upper House in 2018.

During the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, Nadda scripted BJP’s stupendous win in Uttar Pradesh, working as a backroom leader. In 2010, he was picked by then BJP chief Nitin Gadkari to join his team. He was then made party’s national general secretary.

Born on December 2,1960, Nadda completed his graduation from Patna and holds a postgraduate degree in political science and LLB from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. His father, Narain Lall Nadda, was Vice Chancellor of Patna University. His wife Mallika Nadda is a university teacher.