BJP appoints Sunil Bansal as party national general secretary, sends Dharampal to UP

Bansal’s appointment assumes significance as the BJP is determined to gain more seats in West Bengal and emerge as the alternative force in Telangana and Odisha in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Bansal had been the organisation secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh and played a significant role in BJP winning the elections in the politically-crucial state.

The party also announced Dharampal, who was the organisation secretary in charge of Jharkhand, will take over from Bansal and said Karamveer, who was the co-organisation secretary in UP, will go to Jharkhand.

Both Dharampal and Bansal have Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad backgrounds and Dharampal has also served in various positions in the ABVP in UP.

The role of the general secretary (organisation) or sangathan mahamantri is considered to be crucial in any BJP unit as they are RSS appointees in the party. If the BJP is in power in any state, the party general secretary (organisation) is supposed to play the key role of a communicator between the RSS and the government while being a part of the party and the government’s core group.

Bansal was brought to the BJP UP unit to assist Union Home Minister Amit Shah ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Before that, he was a pracharak with the RSS and worked with its students’ wing ABVP as well. Considered close to Amit Shah, Bansal proved himself, with the BJP winning 71 of the state’s 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and sweeping the Assembly elections in 2017.

Subsequently, the BJP won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections defeating the grand alliance of the SP-BSP-RLD in UP. It also retained power in the state by clinching the 2022 Assembly polls. In between, the party has also won a series of the Rajya Sabha and the Legislative Council elections in the state.