RSS strongman Ram Madhav among Nitin Nabin’s first set of appointees

Hours after assuming charge as the BJP chief on Tuesday, Nitin Nabin approved four sets of appointments, including election in-charge for the upcoming Kerala, Greater Bengaluru Corporation, Telangana Municipal Corporation and Chandigarh mayoral polls.

Nabin appointed BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde as the in-charge of elections in Kerala and for Chandigarh mayoral polls. In Kerala, union minister Shobha Karandlaje will be election co in-charge.

RSS strongman Ram Madhav is among the first set of appointees chosen by Nabin in signs of the importance of the RSS in the new party chief's affairs.

Nabin appointed the former general secretary of the party Madhav in charge of Greater Bengaluru Corporation polls with BJP Haryana in-charge Satish Poonia and Maharashtra MLA Sanjay Upadhyay as co in-charge.

In Telangana municipal and corporation polls, Ashish Shelar, Maharashtra minister, will be in charge with Ashok Parnami (former BJP president in Rajasthan) and Rajya Sabha MP Rekha Sharma as co in-charge.

Madhav's return to routine BJP affairs is important. Once a permanent fixture in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign entourages, Madhav was removed as BJP general secretary in September 2020. Before his ouster, he had been tasked by the BJP to stitch the party’s pacts in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East.

In August 2024, he had also been named in-charge for party polls in J&K.