NEW-GEN LEADER

The party chooses low-key, five-term Bihar MLA Nitin Nabin to lead it into the future. But Modi-Shah's dominance in organisation affairs continues

- ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

ON THE EVENING OF DECEMBER 14, a short message from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national media office announced Nitin Nabin, the low-key minister for public works in the new government in Bihar, as the party's 'working president', a preliminary step before taking over the top post nationally. At just 46, he'll be the youngest BJP president in history (breaking Nitin Gadkari's record, who was 52 when he took over) when he takes over as the party's national chief next year.

Born after the BJP was formally constituted in 1980, Nabin will also be the first millennial leader to enter/head the party's national organisational core. For many outside the party (and inside it too), the name had little recall. Inside the BJP, though, the appointment brought clarity, as it had been some time coming-current party chief J.P. Nadda has been on one extension after another since his tenure ended in January 2023.

Sources say that for nearly a year and a half, the party leadership and the RSS had been circling the allimportant question: who should steer the BJP's organisational machinery as it prepares for a future that will, eventually, move beyond the centrality of Prime Minister Narendra Modi? The discussions produced many names, but consensus proved elusive. The Bihar leader's appointment breaks that logjam in a way that few anticipated.

LOW-KEY PLAYER