BJP National President Nitin Nabin has announced a comprehensive round of organisational changes, appointing fresh state presidents for four key units: Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and Tripura. Harsh Malhotra has been appointed as the party's Delhi unit president, marking the first major organisational rejig since Nabin took over as national chief in January. Malhotra, who is a first-time Member of Parliament and Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs, Road Transport, and Highways, succeeds Virendra Sachdeva as the BJP's Delhi unit president. The appointment comes amid speculation about a possible reshuffle in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers, as the BJP's constitution mandates the 'one person, one post' principle that previous ministers have observed by demitting party offices.
The appointment of Malhotra as Delhi unit chief is being viewed as a potential signal for an imminent reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers. As reported by Business Standard, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, sworn in on June 9, 2024, will mark two years of its current term with an NDA meeting scheduled in the second week of June. The Union Council of Ministers currently comprises 72 members, including Prime Minister Modi, with 30 cabinet ministers, five ministers of state with independent charge, and 36 ministers of state. There have been no changes to the Council of Ministers that took oath two years back, and a potential reshuffle could seek to give more representation to BJP allies such as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
According to Business Standard reports, in the past 12 years, PM Modi has factored in considerations such as giving more representation to women, other backward classes (OBCs), Scheduled Castes (SCs), and Members of Parliament from poll-bound states in shaping his Council of Ministers. Seven Assembly polls are due in 2027, with elections scheduled in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Goa, and Uttarakhand by February-March 2027, and in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat by the end of the year. Additionally, elections to 24 Rajya Sabha seats from 10 states are to be held on June 18, with 11 more Rajya Sabha MPs set to retire by November this year, potentially creating space for party leaders to be inducted into the Council of Ministers.
Following the Delhi appointment, Nabin announced presidents of the party's Haryana, Punjab, and Tripura units. Archana Gupta has been appointed as BJP Haryana president, Kewal Singh Dhillon has been appointed President of the BJP's Punjab unit, and Abhishek Debroy has been named the new President of the BJP's Tripura state unit. As reported by Business Standard, Singh stated that 'all these appointments come with immediate effect'. The Punjab appointment is particularly significant as Kewal Dhillon is the first Sikh that the BJP has appointed as the party's state unit chief, marking the party's outreach towards the Sikh community ahead of Assembly polls in February-March next year. In the 2024 general elections, Malhotra was nominated from the East Delhi constituency in place of former cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who opted out to prioritise his cricket-related commitments, and subsequently secured victory from the seat, defeating INDIA bloc nominee Kuldeep Kumar by a margin of 93,663 votes.
The Delhi Government and Centre are jointly working on an ambitious series of road infrastructure projects aimed at transforming mobility and reducing traffic congestion across the National Capital Region (NCR). According to Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, the projects are being undertaken under the Centre-State 'double-engine government' framework with the objective of creating a modern, future-ready and congestion-free transport network. One of the key proposals includes a 17-km-long, six-lane corridor under the Urban Extension Road-II (UER-II) Extension Delhi-Dehradun Expressway Link Project, estimated to cost around ₹3,500 crore. The corridor will connect the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway near Tronica City with UER-II and is expected to reduce traffic pressure on critical stretches including IGI Airport routes, Barapullah corridor, Mukarba Chowk, Singhu Border and the Ashram-Badarpur section. Another major proposal involves a 65-km-long, six-lane Noida-Faridabad Connectivity Corridor linked to the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, estimated at ₹7,500 crore. The alignment is currently being finalised and construction is expected to commence by December 2026.
According to Business Standard reports, after his return from his five-nation tour, PM Modi held a meeting of his Council of Ministers on May 21 and reviewed the performance of key ministries. The PM is scheduled to visit France and Slovakia in the middle of June, attending the Group of Seven (G7) Leaders' Summit at Evian-les-Bains in France from June 15 to 17. The organisational rejig comes as the BJP prepares for upcoming electoral challenges, with the party having doubled its vote share from 9% to 18.5% in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Punjab despite losing all 13 seats it contested. As per News18, the appointments are being seen as the beginning of a wider organisational overhaul under BJP leadership, with preparations underway for the selection of new office-bearers both at the state and national levels.
