Sanjay Jaiswal made new Bihar BJP chief

PATNA: BJP national president Amit Shah on Saturday appointed three-time West Champaran (Bettiah) MP Dr Sanjay Jaiswal as the party’s state president, replacing Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai, a two-time party MP from Ujiarpur.
Jaiswal is a well-known face in the party having been elected to the Lok Sabha from the West Champaran parliamentary constituency in 2009, 2014 and 2019.Jaiswal, who was in Bettiah, thanked his party chief for giving him the responsibility, which he would carry out “with utmost dedication as he had done in the past when any responsibility was given”.
The notification regarding Jaiswal’s elevation was issued by the BJP national general secretary (headquarters) Arun Singh. It said the appointment of Jaiswal would become “effective immediately”. He has become the 16th state president of BJP since 1980, when it became the new avatar of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh formed in 1952.
Jaiswal told mediapersons his focus would be on strengthening the organization from the booth level, Shakti Kendra, Mandal and district upwards to the state level to be ready for the state assembly elections due next year.
Before Jaiswal, his father Dr Madan Jaiswal represented the same seat in the Lok Sabha in 1996, 1998 and 1999, besides being a four-time MLA from the Bettiah assembly seat.
Both senior and junior Jaiswals have been part of the medical profession. Jaiswal belongs to the Kalwar caste (a sub-group of the overarching ‘bania’ community belonging to the backward caste). Although a few other names had been in running, BJP’s central leadership zeroed in on Jaiswal in view of the social combinations that the party might like to forge for the 2020 assembly elections, observers felt.
Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, praising the appointment of Jaiswal, said it would help BJP and its allies in returning to power in 2020.
The possible core social combination that the BJP has on its mind would comprise upper castes, ‘banias’ and other backward caste groups as the party has been trying to wean away Yadavs from the RJD fold and Kushwaha\Koeris from the JD-U. The BJP has also been trying to make a dent in the extremely backward caste (EBC) groups— until now the mainstay of CM Nitish Kumar’s JD(U).
Earlier, Jaiswal had been the party’s state vice-president in the state executive committee constituted by Rai. Incidentally, Rai had also been the party’s state vice-president before his elevation.
“Since Rai entered the Union council of ministers as MoS for home affairs, the appointment of the new state president was expected. It has happened after a three-month wait,” state BJP spokesman and former MLA Prem Ranjan Patel said, adding that the party has honoured its “one person, one post” principle in replacing Rai with Dr Jaiswal. The state council would approve Dr Jaiswal’s appointment in November once it is constituted, marking the conclusion of the process regarding organizational elections.