JP Nadda’s tenure as BJP chief ends – Elections, expansion and saffron party’s evolving political playbook in 6 years

Nitin Nabin will be formally declared as the next national president of Bharatiya Janata Party today, January 20 – the same day his predecessor JP Nadda was appointed as full time president of the saffron party six years ago.

Nabin, 45, was on Monday elected unopposed for the post and will be the youngest ever to occupy the top post in the party as it seeks to further expand its influence in uncharted territories.

Nabin, a five-term Bihar MLA, emerged as the sole candidate for the top party post with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders filing nomination papers in his support.

Nabin was appointed working president of the BJP on December 14. Like Nabin, Nadda was also appointed as working president in June 2019 and later as national president in January 2020. Six years later, Nadda's term is drawing to a close as he is all set to hand over the reins to Nitin Nabin today.

Nadda is currently handling the Union Health Ministry, a portfolio he held even during first term of Modi government. After he took over as the BJP's 11th national president, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had expressed confidence that the party would scale new heights under his leadership.

True to that trust, Nadda delivered a notable legacy, leading the party as it consolidated strongholds and expanded its footprint despite occasional setbacks, news agency PTI reported.

Since Nadda took charge, there have been 33 assembly elections, the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and even the Presidential and Vice Presidential polls. The BJP stormed back to power for the record third term of PM Modi in 2024 general elections. Of assembly polls, the BJP won 19, retaining its key states and making in roads into new ones. While the party wrested Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan from the Congress, it ended Naveen Patnaik's 24-year rule as Odisha chief minister by decimating the BJD in the assembly elections.

Under Nadda's stewardship, the BJP also returned to power in Delhi in 2025 after more than 26 years by inflicting a crushing defeat on the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the assembly polls.

The BJP stormed to power in Haryana for a third consecutive term and pulled off a stunning performance in Maharashtra, winning a record number of seats and propelling the ruling Mahayuti to a landslide victory.

When Nadda assumed the party’s reins on January 20, 2020, the BJP was in power in 15 states, with its chief ministers in just seven. Today, the party holds power in 20 states and Union Territories alongside its partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and has its chief ministers in 14 of them.

Before moving to national politics, Nadda served three terms as an MLA in Himachal Pradesh and held state cabinet portfolios including Health and Family Welfare, Parliamentary Affairs, and later Forest, Environment, Science and Technology. He entered the Rajya Sabha in 2012 and served on several parliamentary standing committees. He was Union Health Minister from 2014 to 2019 before being moved into the party’s top organisational role.

Nadda’s journey so far has been a striking testament to discipline, conviction and unwavering dedication to public life, according to BJP leaders. He was just 15 when he participated in a relay fast in a movement spearheaded by Jai Prakash Narayan against the then Congress chief minister of Bihar Abdul Gafur.

He became an active member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS’ student wing, and participated in the Sampurna Kranti movement led by Jai Prakash Narayan against the imposition of Emergency by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975.

After his father's retirement, Nadda relocated with his family to his native place in Himachal Pradesh, where he continued his activism with the ABVP and also pursued LLB from Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla.

In 1991, Nadda became the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and came in touch with the then BJP chief Murli Manohar Joshi.

Nadda won the assembly election from the Bilaspur seat, contesting on the BJP ticket, and became the Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1993. He was re-elected from the seat in 1998 and became a cabinet minister in the BJP government for the first time.

In 2010, the BJP appointed Nadda as the party’s national general secretary after Nitin Gadkari took over as the BJP chief. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh in 2012.

When Amit Shah took the reins of the BJP as its national president in 2014, Nadda was also made a member of the party’s parliamentary board, the highest decision-making body of the organisation.

Nadda enjoys warm relations with Modi, who was for a long time in charge of the BJP's affairs in Himachal Pradesh.

His steady rise through the organisation continued when he was appointed as the BJP’s national working president in 2019 to share Shah’s responsibilities in the party after the latter was inducted into Modi's cabinet and given the Home Ministry portfolio. Nadda eventually took over as the BJP chief in 2020.

After the BJP-led NDA returned to power for a third consecutive term under PM Modi’s leadership in 2024, Nadda was appointed as Union minister for Health and Family Welfare as well as Chemicals and Fertilisers.

He had served as the Union health minister in the first term of the Modi government from 2014 to 2019.

Nadda had said in an interview with Indian Express that the saffron party has grown from the time it needed the RSS and is now “saksham” (capable) and runs its own affairs. The RSS, he said, is an “ideological front” and does its own work. The BJP tally came down during the Lok Sabha, but the party managed to form government with the help of its allies.

It was during his tenure that the BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed some landmark legislations including the 2019 abrogation of Article 370, and was instrumental in building Ram Temple, the two of party’s biggest ideological agendas.

The BJP president has been a significant position in shaping the party’s political course. Atal Bihari Vajpayee led the party after its formation in 1980. LK Advani’s multiple terms further expanded the BJP’s mass mobilisation. Murli Manohar Joshi and Kushabhau Thakre focused on consolidation, while Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari steered the party through transitional phases.

Amit Shah’s tenure from 2014 to 2020 marked the BJP’s most expansive phase at the national level. In the years since, the party has strengthened its cadre base, built extensive organisational infrastructure across states, and refined a standardised election template that it has repeatedly deployed to win polls and retain political dominance.

Now, as Nitin Nabin prepares to take over as the BJP’s 12th national president today, the party is turning its attention to grooming the next generation of leaders and cadre. As the youngest person to assume the post, Nabin is expected to helm a refreshed organisational team, with a greater role for younger leaders.

(With PTI inputs)