Bihar BJP's New Team Balances Caste Equations With 7 OBC And 5 EBC Members, Old And Young Faces Part Of List

Bihar BJP Chief, Samrat Choudhary, unveiled a team of 38 office-bearers for the state unit on Wednesday (9 August), four months after assuming the position.

The list adeptly balances seasoned party members with fresh faces, while also ensuring representation across various castes.

Comprising 12 state vice presidents and state secretaries each, along with five state general secretaries, the new BJP team breaks away from convention with an average age of 45 years. Among them, a dozen leaders are in their early 40s, while two are even below 40.

The lineup incorporates both veterans like former minister Bhim Singh Chandravanshi, former MLA Mithilesh Tiwari, and Jagannath Thakur, as well as young voices including Guru Prakash Paswan (national spokesperson), Santosh Pathak (state spokesperson), Rajesh Verma, and Shivesh Ram.

The team showcases seven members from Other Backward Classes (OBCs) - three Vaishyas, two Kushwahas, and one each from the Kurmi and Yadav communities.

There are five representatives from Economically Backward Castes (EBCs), encompassing the Kahar, Kumhar, Nonia, Dhanuk, and Nishad groups.

From the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, the list includes leaders from Paswan, Ravidas, and Dangi groups. Moreover, the compilation comprises four Rajputs, three members each from the Bhumihar and Brahmin communities, along with a representative from the Kayasth community.

Notably, it features just one Yadav member, indicating the party's shift from outreach efforts to the Yadav community, aiming to solidify its core support base.

In a prior attempt to engage with the Yadavs - a stronghold of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, part of the Mahagathbandhan alliance led by Nitish Kumar - the party projected Union Minister Nityanand Rai, a prominent Yadav figure, as a potential chief ministerial candidate in 2022.

Traditionally, the core BJP base consists of upper castes and OBCs (excluding Yadavs), while recently expanding its support base among certain SC communities.

The newly formed state leadership team hails from diverse regions including Buxar, Bhojpur, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Siwan, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Vaishali, Rohtas, East Champaran, Jehanabad, Patna, Saharsa, Gaya, Madgeoura, Purnia, Khagaria, and Gopalganj.

Among the new vice-presidents are Siddharth Shambhu, Bhim Singh Chandravanshi, Rajendra Singh, Dhirendra Kumar Singh, Sheela Prajapati, Amrita Bhushan, Rajbhushan Nishad, Lalita Kushwaha, Saroj Ranjan Patel, Nutan Singh (wife of former minister and current MLA Neeraj Singh Bablu), Sanjay Khandelia, and Santosh Pathak.

The new state general secretaries are Shivesh Ram (son of former MP Muni Lal Ram), Mithilesh Tiwari (former MLA), Jagannath Thakur, Lalan Mandal, and Rajesh Verma.

State secretaries encompass BJP national spokesperson Guru Prakash Paswan, Santosh Ranjan, Ratnesh Kushwaha, Nandlal Chouhan, Priyambada Kesari, Saroj Jha, Trivikram Singh (son of former MP Gopal Narayan Singh), Sanjay Gupta, Reeta Verma, Swadesh Yadav, Anil Thakur, and Amit Dangi.