The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday appointed Pawan Rana as the general secretary (organisation) of its Delhi unit, replacing Siddharthan, who held the office for eight years.
As per the official communication from the office of BJP national president J. P. Nadda, Mr. Siddharthan will replace Mr. Rana in Himachal Pradesh, who held the same office in the party’s unit in the hill State.
The move is significant in the backdrop of the organisational overhaul likely in the Delhi BJP unit in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Earlier in March, the party appointed Virendra Sachdeva as its Delhi unit chief. Mr. Sachdeva was at the helm of the Delhi BJP’s affairs as working president after Adesh Gupta’s resignation following the party’s defeat in the MCD polls in December 2022.
Many Delhi BJP leaders have, in the past, hinted at a major shake-up in the party. “If the party has to counter the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, it needs to fix its house from top to bottom and some people occupying crucial posts for a long time need to go,” a senior functionary had said.
Mr. Siddharthan was named the Delhi BJP general secretary (organisation) following the party’s defeat in the 2015 Assembly polls. During his tenure, while the BJP won the 2017 civic polls and swept the 2019 General polls, it failed to stop AAP from winning the 2020 Assembly elections and the MCD polls two years later.
