BJP on Thursday set the ball rolling for the Assembly elections due in Bihar in November by naming Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Bhupender Yadav, both key OBC faces and the most seasoned poll managers of the party, as its in-charge for the Assembly elections in Bihar and Bengal, respectively.
Simultaneously, in an effort to retain the Nitish Kumar-led NDA Government of which BJP is a major constituent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Bihar's "Mukhyamantri Mahila Rojgar Yojana" on Friday and transfer Rs 10,000 each to the bank accounts of 75 lakh women across the state, totalling Rs 7,500 crore. Officials said the scheme is aimed at making women "aatmanirbhar" (self-dependent) and promoting empowerment through self-employment and livelihood opportunities. PM Modi will attend the function via video-conferencing. Bihar elections are expected in November, followed by West Bengal and Tamil Nadu which are likely to go to polls in March-April 2026.
Making other important appointments for three poll-bound states, including for next year, the BJP also named Baijayant 'Jay' Panda, one of its vice-presidents, its in-charge for the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu where it is a junior partner to the AIADMK. Former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb is the co-incharge for West Bengal, while Union minister Murlidhar Mohol is the co-incharge for Tamil Nadu,
it said. A BJP statement said Union minister C R Paatil, who heads the party's Gujarat unit and is considered a capable organisation hand, and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya have been named co-incharges for the Bihar polls.
Both Pradhan and Yadav come from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and are among the most experienced poll managers of the BJP. Pradhan was the in-charge for Haryana elections, while Yadav helmed a similar role for Maharashtra polls, both held in 2024, with the BJP pulling off wins of a stunning scale in the two states.
Pradhan's formal appointment for the Bihar polls came very close to the elections, though he had been involved in the state's affairs.
He was the party's co-incharge for the 2010 Bihar polls, when the BJP-JD(U) alliance scored its most emphatic victory. He was also the in-charge in for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka, while Yadav oversaw polls in Bihar and Gujarat, among others, in the past.
The OBC plank is especially resonant in Bihar where the community has been the dominant political force for decades, with the extremely backward classes, a subset of more deprived castes, along with a section of Scheduled Castes seen to be holding the balance of power.
Pradhan's immediate challenge will be to ensure a smooth seat-sharing arrangement among the BJP's allies, some of whom have been seeking a much larger share than it is willing to part with.
Both the BJP and the JD(U) headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar are expected to contest almost an equal number of seats in the elections to the 243-member Assembly, though the other allies such as Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitam Ram Manjhi too have been vocal in airing their demands. Former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha is another ally.
