Smriti Irani to replace JP Nadda as next BJP’s 1st woman President?
Smriti Irani to replace JP Nadda as next BJP’s 1st woman President?
Even as Smriti Irani lost in Amethi and in cabinet spot in Modi 3.0, it is learnt that she is likely to be appointed as BJP President replacement of
JP Nadda who has been inducted in the Modi-300 Cabinet as the Health and Family Welfare Minister as well as the Chemical and Fertilizer Minister.
Smirit Irani lost the Amethi seat to Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma.
In 2019, Nadda became the party’s working president and later promoted to full-time president in January 2020.
With women voters defying caste and religious boundaries, the BJP is also considering to appoint its first woman president in Smriti Irani.
Smriti Irani was left out of the Modi 3.0 cabinet minister’s name and was replaced by Annapurna Devi, BJP OBC leader from Jharkhand as the Union Cabinet Minister for Women and Child Development.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP nose-dived to 33 seats, whereas the Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 37 seats in Uttar Pradesh.
BJP also lost Faizabad, which includes the temple town of Ayodhya, to the Samajwadi Party. Moreover, the party also lost Amethi’s seat where Smriti Irani was pitted against Congress’ Kishori Lal Sharma. In the 2019 general elections, Irani had beat Rahul Gandhi from Amethi.
The party that appointed Droupadi Murmu as India’s first Dalit woman President also takes pride in having convened a special session of Parliament last year to pass the women’s reservation bill. The legislation aims to ensure at least 33% of the seats in state Legislative Assemblies and the Lok Sabha for women.
The party had never apointed a woman president since its formation in 1980. Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the first party president. Later, other leaders like L.K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Kushabhau Thakre, Bangaru Laxman, Jana Krishnamurthi, Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Amit Shah, JP Nadda have played the role of party president.
The other probable name for BJP president according to reports, Anurag Thakur seems to be the potential candidate for the position of party president. Other notable contenders include BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde, K Laxman, Sunil Bansal, Devendra Fadnavis, Om Mathur, and Om Birla, media reports stated.
News Edit K.V.Raman
