Jagat Prakash Nadda has been elected, unopposed, as the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He has been the working-president of the party since June 2019 but is now all set to take over the coveted post officially.
He succeeded Union Home Minister Amit Shah as the President of the party.
He will have a daunting task before him as the party is losing most state elections since November 2018. With the Delhi state elections round the corner, J P Nadda has the onerous task of ensuring that BJP can win here. This applies for other states that are yet to come in the fray such as Bihar.
His other tasks will be in ensuring that the allies stay together as part of the NDA alliance and the party is able to sustain its expansion south of the Vindhyas and come to power in more states.
The party recorded a massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 and he has the baton in his hand now.
Here is a brief background:
He graduated from the Patna University before securing a law degree from the Himachal Pradesh University.
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He represented the state of Bihar in the National Swimming championship.
He has been actively involved in student politics. He joined the ABVP and was even imprisoned during the National Emergency imposed during 1975.
He was elected to the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly for the first time in 1993. He was re-elected in the year 1998. During his second term, he served as the Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs.
He was re-elected to the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly once again in 2007. He was inducted into the cabinet of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in 2008 as Cabinet Minister for Environment, Forests and Science and Technology. He served till 2010.
In 2010, he was made the General Secretary of the party by the then President Nitin Gadkari.
In 2012, he did not seek another term at the Assembly as he got chosen to represent the state in the Rajya Sabha.
In 2014, he served as the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare in the Narendra Modi cabinet.
In 2019, he was responsible for ensuring BJP’s success in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The party won over 50/80 seats.
He is married to Mallika Nadda and they have two sons.
Here is the list of former BJP Presidents from 1980:
1. Atal Bihari Vajpayee- 1980-1986
2. Lal Krishna Advani- 1986-1991
3. Murli Manohar Joshi- 1991-1993
4. LK Advani- 1993-1998
5. Kushabhau Thakre- 1998-2000
6. Bangaru Laxman- 2000-2001
7. Jana Krishnamurthi- 2001-2002
8. M Venkaiah Naidu- 2002-2004
9. LK Advani- 2004-2005
10. Rajnath Singh- 2005-2009
11. Nitin Gadkari- 2009-2013
12. Rajnath Singh- 2013-2014
13. Amit Shah- 2014-2020