In a generational transition of the party's organisational top leadership, India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (14 December) appointed 45-year-old Nitin Nabin Sinha as its new national working president, succeeding 65-year-old incumbent Jagat Prakash Nadda.

Sinha is now the youngest national president in BJP's history.

The decision to appoint Sinha was taken by the BJP parliamentary board, the party's highest decision-making forum.

Nadda, who was appointed party President in 2020, had served out his four-year tenure but was on extension because of the previous parliamentary elections held in June last year when BJP returned to power for a third consecutive term but failed to get majority on its own.

A Public Works Department minister in the Bihar state government, the appointment of Nitin Nabin Sinha, also a five-time legislator, comes at a time when the party faces fresh state-level elections in crucial states like West Bengal, where it hopes to wrest power from Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, and in Assam where it seeks to retain power for the third time in a row.

BJP also faces uphill assembly election tests in two key southern states Tamil Nadu and adjacent Kerala in April next year. The party is seeking to find a toe-hold in the two states. 

Sinha, a seasoned organisational man, brings with him long grassroots experience with close links to party workers at grassroot level and at higher echelon.

Sinha, who belongs to upper caste Kayastha, began his political journey at the age of 26 using the pro-RSS students platform Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad before moving into active party politics with BJP and its youth wing.

He was first elected to the Bihar legislative assembly in the year 2000 and has retained the Bankipur seat in successive elections. In the 2020 Bihar assembly polls, he won by a margin of around 84,000 votes, defeating Luv Sinha, the son of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha. Pushpam Priya Chaudhary also lost the contest by a wide margin.

Within the party, Sinha has held several key responsibilities, including serving as Bihar BJP general secretary, a member of the party's national executive and national general secretary of the party's youth front Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha which he had headed in the state.

Congratulating Sinha for his new role, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him a young and "industrious leader with a rich organizational experience and has an impressive record as MLA as well as Minister in Bihar for multiple terms".

"He has diligently worked to fulfil people's aspirations. He is known for his humble nature and grounded style of working. I am confident that his energy and dedication will strengthen our Party in the times to come. Congratulations to him on becoming the BJP National Working President," Modi wrote on X.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) / India