AHMEDABAD: BJP president Nitin Nabin’s new national team has given Gujarat a significant organisational footprint, with four leaders from the state finding a place in the reshuffle.
The biggest elevation is for 35-year-old Vadodara MP Dr Hemang Joshi, who has been appointed national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha.
The appointments also bring experienced leader Varshaben Doshi into the national vice presidential team and give space to former Congress functionary Rohan Gupta, signalling a mix of youth, experience and political expansion.
The BJP’s new national organisational team, announced on Monday, has given four leaders from Gujarat responsibilities in the party’s central structure.
The move under BJP national president Nitin Nabin assumes significance as the party seeks to strengthen its organisation with a blend of experienced leaders, younger faces and leaders with diverse political backgrounds.
The most prominent Gujarat elevation is that of Dr Hemang Joshi, who replaces Tejashwi Surya as national president of the BJP’s youth wing.
At 35, Joshi’s elevation gives the party a relatively young face to lead its nationwide youth organisation while simultaneously increasing his political profile as Vadodara’s Lok Sabha MP.
His appointment comes after his tenure as Gujarat BJP Yuva Morcha president and earlier speculation within the party that he could be considered for the national youth wing post.
Joshi’s rise has been rooted in organisation rather than electoral politics alone. After moving to Vadodara from Porbandar for education, he became associated with ABVP at MS University.
During 2010-11, he served as ABVP media in charge and a district executive member, while in 2015-16 he was general secretary of the university’s Faculty of Social Work. He joined the BJP as an active worker in 2013.
The national team also gives Gujarat veteran Varshaben Narendrabhai Doshi a key role as national vice president. A two-time MLA from Wadhwan, elected in 2007 and 2012, Doshi was denied a ticket in the 2017 Assembly election but remained active in the organisation.
She has served as Gujarat BJP vice president, was made in charge of Mehsana district in 2023 and is currently associated with organisational responsibility in Anand district.
The inclusion of Rohan Gupta carries a different political message. The former Congress chief spokesperson and social media and IT cell head was nominated by the Congress from Ahmedabad East in the 2024 Lok Sabha election but withdrew, citing his father’s ill health.
He subsequently joined the BJP in April 2024, making his elevation into the national structure notable as an example of the BJP accommodating a relatively recent political entrant.
The fourth Gujarat leader, Jagdish Ishwarbhai Patel, brings electoral experience from Ahmedabad’s Amraiwadi constituency, where he won the 2019 Assembly by election on a BJP ticket after the seat fell vacant following Hasmukhbhai Patel’s election to the Lok Sabha.
Together, the four appointments underline the BJP’s attempt to combine Gujarat’s organisational experience, youth leadership, electoral grounding and political expansion within Nabin’s new national team.
