BJP gives charge of Bihar poll to Pradhan, Bhupender Yadav Bengal, Panda Tamil Nadu

The ruling BJP hit poll gear on Thursday naming Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhupender Yadav, and MP Baijayant Panda as the incharge for Assembly election-bound Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Education Minister Pradhan, who recently delivered victory for the BJP in Haryana, will have two senior leaders as co-incharge--Jal Shakti Minister and Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil, a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah; and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.

In West Bengal, Environment and Forest Minister Bhupender Yadav has former Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb as the co-incharge. In Tamil Nadu, BJP national vice-president Panda will be assisted by Minister of State for Aviation Murlidhar Mohol.

Pradhan was the BJP co-incharge for the 2010 Bihar poll, which the JD(U)-BJP coalition won convincingly. He was also the incharge for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka. Yadav was the incharge for the elections in Bihar (2020), Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (2020), Madhya Pradesh (2023) and Maharashtra (2024). The BJP performed well in each.

In West Bengal, Yadav will have his hands full as the BJP is eager to make inroads into the state. The last three Assembly elections have been won by the TMC. It bagged 213 of the total 292 seats in 2021 whereas the BJP got 77.

Between 2014 and 2019, the BJP rose in Bengal from two Lok Sabha MPs to 18 (out of total 42), with vote share rising from 17 per cent to 40.2 per cent. In 2024, the TMC, however, crushed the BJP's 35-seat target, bagging 29 seats compared to the BJP’s 12.

In Tamil Nadu, the BJP is hoping to stitch together a broad alliance with the AIADMK and other smaller state parties. To appease the AIADMK, the BJP in April appointed Nainar Nagenthiran as state chief, replacing K Annamalai.

On September 16, AIADMK general secretary E Palaniswamy along with party colleagues met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the capital. The meeting happened amid calls within the divided AIADMK ranks to unite its cadres. Efforts are underway to bring back former AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and VK Sasikala to the party along with others.

The AIADMK had quit the NDA in 2023 and was humbled in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It finished a runner-up in 24 of the total 39 seats, third in nine and fourth in one. The BJP contested 23 seats, but won none. However, allying with smaller players for the General Election, the BJP bagged 11.10 per cent votes, beating ruling DMK (which swept the poll) ally Congress (10.78 per cent).