New Delhi : BJP national general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Vinod Tawde was appointed the party’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge on Tuesday. Jagdish Ishwarbhai Patel was appointed as the UP co-in-charge. The appointments came a day after BJP president Nitin Nabin announced a major organisational rejig and unveiled his new team of national office-bearers.
The BJP also appointed newly named national general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Satish Poonia as in-charge of Punjab, and Tarun Chugh as in-charge of Gujarat. Tawde, 63, brings years of experience in election management, membership drives and organisational work across states. His new assignment puts that experience to the test in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most politically crucial state.
He was elected an MLA in 2014 and held several key portfolios in the Devendra Fadnavis government, including school education, higher and technical education, medical education, sports and youth welfare, parliamentary affairs and cultural affairs. Despite his ministerial role, Tawde was denied a ticket in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections. That effectively pushed him out of electoral politics in the state.
He was the NDA’s election in-charge for Droupadi Murmu’s 2022 presidential campaign. He coordinated with parties and allies across states, helping build support for Murmu’s candidature. In 2025, he was given a similar role for NDA vice-presidential candidate CP Radhakrishnan, again tasked with coordinating alliance partners.
He has also served as an observer for chief ministerial selections in Tripura and Rajasthan and handled election strategy and organisational work in Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Delhi. Uttar Pradesh has 80 Lok Sabha seats and 403 Assembly constituencies, making it a political heavyweight and a key gateway to power in New Delhi.
The BJP faces a tougher task in 2027 after losing ground in the 2024 general elections. The party failed to secure a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha for the first time since 2014. Tawde’s appointment is also being seen as an attempt to strengthen the BJP’s organisational machinery in the state, where the party hopes to score a third straight term.
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