BJP springs surprise, appoints Nitin Nabin working president
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday, in a surprise move, named Bihar minister Nitin Nabin as the party’s working president. He is expected to eventually replace JP Nadda who had been heading the BJP since 2020.
Nabin brings a unique blend of experience and youth. At 45, he is the youngest BJP chief ever and the first from Bihar and eastern India. He also holds the distinction of being a five-time MLA and has acquired administrative experience handling key ministerial portfolios.
Nabin also has two decades of organisational experience – rising through the ranks from the party’s youth wing chief to the election in-charge in Chhattisgarh.
His appointment reflects the BJP’s focus on capable leadership and signals a generational shift. Nadda, 65, has already completed his full term and was expected to be replaced in 2023 but was given repeated extensions to lead the party through the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Nabin, saying, “Shri Nitin Nabin Ji has distinguished himself as a hard-working Karyakarta. He is a young and industrious leader with rich organisational experience and has an impressive record as MLA as well as Minister in Bihar for multiple terms.”
Nabin, he added, has “diligently worked to fulfil people’s aspirations. He is known for his humble nature and grounded style of working. I am confident that his energy and dedication will strengthen our party in the times to come. Congratulations to him on becoming the BJP National Working President,” PM Modi said.
Nabin’s appointment as National Working President “is an honour for every young BJP worker who works tirelessly day and night,” said his predecessor and the party’s chief strategist and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
“Whether as the National General Secretary of the BJP Youth Wing, the State President of the Youth Wing in Bihar, or the State In-charge of Chhattisgarh, he has fulfilled every organisational responsibility with complete dedication and success. Having served as an MLA five times in Bihar and as a minister in the state government, he has extensive experience working among the people,” Shah had added.
Nabin is the son of the late Nabin Kishore Prasad Sinha -- a veteran BJP leader and former MLA. He entered politics in late 2000s and contested his first election from Bankipur in 2010. The constituency has consecutively elected him four more times since. Currently he holds the Road Construction and Urban Development and Housing portfolios in the Nitish Kumar cabinet.
When he was just 26 years of age, the BJP fielded him from Patna West assembly seat in 2006 after it fell vacant due to the death of his father.
The choice for the party’s top post left everyone surprised, again, as the BJP has been known for naming new faces for key positions. Nabin himself was busy attending public functions in his constituency, where he thanked party workers for his victory in the recent assembly election.
Incidentally, BJP president J P Nadda, 65, was also born in Bihar and received his early education in Patna before moving to his home state, Himachal Pradesh.
Nadda described Nabin as “a dynamic leader from the sacred land of knowledge and culture, Bihar” and said he is confident that the party will reach new heights under his leadership and with the guidance of PM Modi.
The appointment comes at a time when the BJP is reshaping its organisational structure and Nabin’s elevation is being viewed as a key step in the party’s leadership realignment ahead of upcoming political challenges.
