BJP's president JP Nadda appoints new chiefs for Kerala, MP, Sikkim

BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda on Saturday (February 15) appointed new chiefs to the party’s Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim units. K Surendran has been appointed the president of the Kerala unit, Vishnu Dutt Sharma as president of Madhya Pradesh unit and Dal Bahadur Chauhan as that of the Sikkim unit of the party.

“BJP chief honourable Jagat Prakash Nadda ji has appointed Shri Vishnu Dutt Sharma as the president of the Madhya Pradesh unit,” it said. With this, Sharma has replaced Rakesh Singh, believed to be a trusted lieutenant of Union Home Minister and former BJP chief Amit Shah.

However, the move that has come as a surprise to many. Sharma, who is popularly known as VD, is a staunch follower of the RSS. He is credited for strengthening the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student’s wing of the RSS, in Madhya Pradesh in 1990s.

Sharma, who was the national general secretary of the ABVP, had joined the BJP in 2013.
With Sharma’s appointment, the BJP leadership has given yet another key post to a Brahmin leader in Madhya Pradesh after Gopal Bhargava, who is the Leader of Opposition
in the state assembly.

In Kerala, K Surendran was serving as the general secretary of the party. His appointment as the state president comes three months after P S Sreedharan Pillai quit the post following his appointment as Mizoram Governor.

Dal Bahadur Chauhan had served as the president of BJP’s Sikkim unit earlier too.

(With inputs from agencies)