BJP puts tribal leader Gajendra Singh Patel in charge of Jharkhand
SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA Ranchi, September 23: The Bharatiya Janata Party has placed Gajendra Singh Patel, a tribal leader from Madhya Pradesh and…
SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, September 23: The Bharatiya Janata Party has placed Gajendra Singh Patel, a tribal leader from Madhya Pradesh and its newly appointed national general secretary, in charge of Jharkhand, giving the party’s organisational leadership in the state a distinct focus on tribal outreach.
BJP national president Nitin Nabin announced the new state in-charges and co-in-charges on Wednesday. Patel will be assisted in Jharkhand by Saurabh Singh and Nivedita Singh as co-in-charges. The appointments take immediate effect.
Patel’s appointment assumes significance against the backdrop of the BJP’s recent electoral performance in Jharkhand’s tribal constituencies. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the BJP lost all five Scheduled Tribe-reserved parliamentary seats in the state, while the JMM won three and the Congress two.
Jharkhand has 28 Assembly constituencies reserved for Scheduled Tribes, making tribal politics an important component of the state’s electoral landscape. The JMM has traditionally maintained a strong base among tribal voters, built over decades around the political legacy of Shibu Soren and subsequently Hemant Soren.
Patel brings tribal and organisational background
Gajendra Singh Patel, a two-term Lok Sabha member from Khargone in Madhya Pradesh, was appointed BJP national general secretary in August. He has also held organisational responsibilities associated with the party’s Scheduled Tribe Morcha. His appointment as Jharkhand in-charge now gives him responsibility for an organisation operating in a state where tribal representation and issues of land, identity, culture and development occupy a significant place in political discourse.
Patel was elected from the Khargone (ST) Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 and retained the seat in 2024. His parliamentary profile lists him as an agriculturist with BA and LLB qualifications.
His parliamentary interventions have included issues concerning rail connectivity, infrastructure, healthcare, education, agriculture and development in the Khargone-Barwani region.
BJP’s tribal outreach in focus
The organisational change comes after a period in which the BJP has sought to strengthen its presence among Jharkhand’s tribal communities.
The party’s difficulties in the tribal belt were particularly visible in the 2024 elections. Contemporary election analyses noted that the BJP faced a significant challenge in the 28 ST-reserved Assembly constituencies, while the JMM-led alliance retained a strong position among tribal voters.
Against this background, the choice of a tribal leader from another state as the BJP’s Jharkhand in-charge gives Patel a role that goes beyond routine organisational coordination. His brief will include working with the state leadership and party cadre while dealing with the political and organisational issues that shape the BJP’s outreach in tribal regions.
Saurabh Singh brings a political family background
The BJP has paired Patel with Saurabh Singh, a former MLA from Akaltara in Chhattisgarh.
Singh comes from a political family and is the son of former Akaltara MLA Dhirendra Kumar Singh. He first won the Akaltara Assembly seat in 2008 on a BSP ticket and later joined the BJP. He won the seat for the BJP in 2018 but lost the 2023 election.
His inclusion gives the Jharkhand team a leader with electoral and organisational experience from neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
Nivedita Singh completes the team
Nivedita Singh, a BJP leader from Bihar and former member of the Bihar Legislative Council, has also been appointed co-in-charge for Jharkhand.
The three-member team will now work with the Jharkhand BJP leadership on organisational affairs, cadre coordination and the party’s outreach across the state. The appointments are part of a wider BJP organisational reshuffle covering states and Union Territories.
For Jharkhand, the immediate political significance of the reshuffle lies in the combination of a tribal national leader at the helm and two co-in-charges with political and organisational experience from neighbouring states—against the backdrop of the BJP’s continuing effort to expand its appeal among the state’s tribal electorate.
