BJP announces election in-charges for 2022 assembly polls; Dharmendra Pradhan to manage UP, Pralhad Joshi gets Uttarakhand

Dharmendra Pradhan.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on September 8 appointed Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan as in charge of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections and parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi as the party’s in charge for Uttarakhand assembly polls.

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Gearing up for polls in five states next year, the BJP also appointed Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat as Punjab in charge while Union environment, forests and climate change minister Bhupender Yadav will be in charge of Manipur.

The BJP is in power in all the five poll-bound states except in Punjab, where its traditional ally Shiromani Akali Dal had quit the NDA over the farm laws.

In Uttar Pradesh, where BJP is seeking re-election ahead of 2024 parliamentary polls, Pradhan will be assisted by Union ministers Anurag Singh Thakur, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Sobha Karandlaje, Annapoorna Devi, former Haryana state minister Capt Abhimanyu, senior party leader and Rajya Sabha MP Saroj Pande and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Thakur.

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Lok Sabha MP Locket Chatterjee and party spokesperson RP Singh have been made co-in charges for Uttarakhand where the ruling BJP changed its chief minister recently.

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Bhupender Yadav, who had managed the BJP’s campaign in key states like Gujarat and Bihar will be assisted by Union Ministers Pratima Bhaumik and Assam Minister Ashok Singhal in Manipur.

Shekhawat will be assisted by Union ministers Hardip Puri, Meenakshi Lekhi, and Lok Sabha MP Vinod Chawda in Punjab.