Who are the BJP’s 9 new state chiefs? Ravindra Chavan to PVN Madhav

The Bharatiya Janata Party is on a spree of electing presidents of its state units – a process that paves the way for electing the saffron party’s new national president, replacing JP Nadda.  

Since its internal polls started last year, the party has elected as many as nine new state heads and held elections for 28 states and union territories.

However, the election of the national president will be conducted only after the successful completion of elections in key states like Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi, and Haryana, among others.

Here are nine new state presidents of the BJP:

1- Ravindra Chavan: Maharashtra

A four-term MLA from Dombivali, Ravindra Chavan replaced Chandrashekhar Bawankule as Maharashtra BJP president. Chavan has been a minister in the state too and has held several key portfolios, including Public Works, Food and Civil Supplies, and Consumer Protection, in the Maharashtra government. 

Chavan, 54, who was appointed Working President of the BJP Maharashtra unit in January, is also seen as a close aide of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and has strong backing from the RSS.

Chavan’s appointment as the state BJP chief in Maharashtra is seen as a strategic move ahead of key local body elections in Mumbai.

2- N Ramchander Rao: Telangana

Former MLC N Ramchander Rao has been elected as the new President of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Telangana unit. Rao, 66,  replaces Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy, who was elected as the BJP’s state unit president in July 2023, replacing Bandi Sanjay Kumar.

A senior lawyer in the Supreme Court, Rao has also served as the chief spokesperson and General Secretary of the BJP in undivided Andhra Pradesh.

From 2015 to 2021, Rao was a Member of the Telangana Legislative Council (MLC) for Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, and Mahabubnagar Graduates’ Constituency. He has also been in charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s membership drive in Telangana.

3- Hemant Khandelwal: Madhya Pradesh

Hemant Khandelwal, the newly elected President of Madhya Pradesh, is an MLA from Betul. Khandelwal has also been an MP from Betul, which was won by his father, late Vijay Khandelwal, four times (1996-2008).

Khandelwal, 60, is said to have strong roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP’s ideological mentor. He is also known to be close to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.

Khandelwal’s election to the top post signals the BJP’s outreach to the strong Vaishya community in Madhya Pradesh and its balancing act as the state’s No Wasan Other Backward Class (OBC) chief minister and an upper-caste state president.

4 – Rajeev Bindal: Himachal Pradesh

Rajeev Bindal has been re-elected for a third straight term as the president of the BJP’s Himachal Pradesh unit. Bindal, 70, is a veteran BJP face and a five-time MLA from the hill state.

He also served as the health minister in the Prem Kumar Dhumal-led BJP government from 2007 to 2012. Bindal has also been speaker of the Himachal Pradesh assembly from 2018 to 2020.

A doctor by profession, Bindal served in Jharkhand under RSS’s Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad. 

Bindal is said to be a close aide of JP Nadda, who also comes from Himachal Pradesh. 

5 – PVN Madhav: Andhra Pradesh

BJP’s new Andhra Pradesh chief, PVN Madhav, will focus on strengthening the party’s presence in the ruling NDA coalition in the state, which is allied with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and the Janasena party led by Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan.

Madhav is stepping into his father’s shoes. PV Chalapati Rao, Madhav’s father, was the first BJP state president of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

Madhav, 51, is a former Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) and had roles in Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and RSS-affiliated organisations. He has also been the general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh BJP.

6 – Mahendra Bhatt – Uttarakhand

Mahendra Bhatt, 53, the Uttarakhand chief of the BJP, is a Rajya Sabha MP who has been re-elected for the top post. 

He first took over as Uttarakhand BJP chief in 2022. Bhatt is the only party chief in the hill state to get a successive term in 25 years.

Bhatt is a two-time MLA who began his political career with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in the early 1990s. He has also been the BJP Yuva Morcha’s state president.

With Pushkar Singh Dhami, a Thakur, as chief minister, the BJP has kind of balanced the caste equation by appointing a Brahmin, Bhatt as party’s state president.

7- Anil Tiwari:  Andaman and Nicobar

The saffron party has elected Anil Tiwari as new president of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands unit. Tiwari, who joined the BJP in 1990, is known for his strong roots in the RSS.

In the past, Tiwari has served as the state secretary of the BJP in the Island. 

8- VP Ramalingam: Puducherry

In Puducherry UT, the BJP has picked VP Ramalingam, brother of former Congress leader VP Sivakolundhu, as its new president.

Ramalingam, 63, is a businessman who joined the BJP in 2021 when he was then nominated as an MLA following the formation of the AINRC-BJP coalition government.

9 – Dr K Beichhua:  Mizoram

The BJP picked K Beichhua, a three-time MLA from Siaha, to lead its party unitin Mizoram in the northeast,

Beichhua, 59, has served as a doctor for 16 years and was elected to the assembly from Siaha on a Mizo National Front (MNF) ticket for two consecutive terms in 2013 and 2018. 

Dr Beichhua joined the BJP in 2023 after his January 2023 expulsion from the MNF. He won the seat. Dr Beichhua is one of the two BJP MLAs in the current 40-member Mizoram assembly.

Dr Beichhua has been a minister holding various portfolios, including Excise and Narcotics, in the previous MNF dispensation headed by Zoramthanga.