nadda-back-in-modi-s-cabinet-after-bjp-presidency

After leading the BJP as its national president for over four years, JP Nadda returned to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers on Sunday.

 

The 63-year-old took oath as a Cabinet minister, becoming the sole representative from Himachal Pradesh in the BJP-led government. It is not yet known which ministry will be assigned to him.

 

He served as Union health minister in Modi's first term from November 9, 2014, to May 30, 2019.

 

Nadda, who holds a law degree, started his political journey with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) student wing. In 1991, he became president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the BJP's youth wing.

 

He held various key positions in the BJP and headed its election campaign in several states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Punjab. He also served as a minister in the BJP's governments in his home state of Himachal Pradesh.

 

He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2012 and made a member of the BJP's parliamentary board in 2014 when Amit Shah took over as party president.

 

After the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Nadda became the BJP's working president. He was elevated to president in January 2020 after Shah, the then-BJP chief, was appointed Union home minister.

 

Nadda took over as BJP chief when the party witnessed vigorous challenges from a united opposition in assembly elections in several states amid signs that it needed to rework its electoral strategy.

 

Despite its overwhelming win in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has suffered several defeats in assembly polls since 2018, except in Haryana, where it formed a government in an alliance with the Jannayak Janta Party.

 

On Nadda's watch, the BJP won new allies and strung up a series of impressive assembly wins. During his term as BJP chief, the party consolidated its strongholds and expanded its footprints despite occasional setbacks.

 

With his term ending in June, the low-key leader from Himachal Pradesh would have liked to leave office on the high of having achieved yet another impressive Lok Sabha poll win. However, the BJP's victory in the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls came with reduced numbers. The party fell short of a majority on its own, winning just 240 seats in the parliamentary polls.

 

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) won 293 seats, setting the course for a third consecutive term as prime minister for Modi despite the opposition's resurgence.

 

Nadda is considered within the party the epitome of political correctness. His manners are unfailingly polite in public, and his attacks on rivals never trigger unseemly controversy.

 

He enjoys warm relations with Modi, who was long in charge of the party's affairs in Himachal Pradesh.