JP Nadda to replace Amit Shah as BJP president: Sources

With the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah set to join Narendra Modi cabinet, health minister JP Nadda is likely to replace him as the new party president, sources confirmed to Zee Business TV. Nadda is expected to work closely with Shah even after the latter demits office. The second half of the year is very crucial for the ruling party with the Union Budget scheduled for first week of July, followed by important elections in three states - Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana. Nadda will oversee the election campaign strategy. 

There is also a possibility that Jammu and Kashmir might go to polls again this year and the coalition in Karnataka appears to be skating on thin ice too. Once all of this settles, the battle for Delhi will rake centre-stage next year. The news of Nadda taking over comes at a time when Amit Shah is expected to be appointed as the finance minister, after Arun Jaitley confirmed that he will not be a part of the cabinet. 

Fifty nine-year-old Nadda is a Rajya Sabha member who keeps a low profile but is also parliamentary board secretary of the BJP. Nadda is known as a master strategist in his party. The party had given him charge of Uttar Pradesh in the recently concluded hustings. The party bagged 62 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats. Apna Dal bagged two against a caste calculus driven combine of BSP and SP. 

#BreakingNews | #JPNadda हो सकते हैं बीजेपी के नए अध्यक्ष: सूत्र pic.twitter.com/mKWvJUYxf0

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Nadda had studied at St Xaviers School, Patna, and did his BA from Patna College, Patna University and LL.B. from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. He is three time MLA in the Himachal Assembly. He came to the upper house from Himachal Pradesh and was appointed Minister in 2014. With the BJP securing a fresh beach-head in the south in Telangana where it has won four seats along with 23 in Karnataka, Nadda is expected to focus on operation south to expand the BJP`s footprint and become truly pan Indian party.

Earlier this year, he had announced that the party would win 74 Lok Sabha seats out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh after being appointed BJP's Uttar Pradesh election in-charge for Lok Sabha elections. At a meeting with senior office bearers of the party, Nadda, had predicted that the BJP would register a handsome win in the Lok Sabha polls and all records will be broken -- "We shall increase our tally of Lok Sabha seats from the state by winning 74 seats, one more than last time." 

In the 2014 general elections, the BJP had won 71 Lok Sabha seats in the state and two other went to its ally -- the Apna Dal. The BJP won 62 against a tough opposition while the alliance only managed 15.