Team Nabin’s First Test: All Eyes on BJP’s New Office-Bearers Meeting
BJP president Nitin Nabin in West Bengal (Image X.com)
By NIRENDRA DEV
The BJP’s new national office-bearers will meet for the first time under Nitin Nabin as the party prepares for crucial electoral battles, including the 2027 Uttar Pradesh polls.
New Delhi, August 21, 2026 — The BJP central leadership has convened the first meeting of the new team of office-bearers at the party headquarters on Saturday, Aug. 22.
Sources said the old office-bearers — at least a select few — are also expected to attend. Among others, the meeting will be addressed by party president Nitin Nabin and BJP general secretary (Organisation) B. L. Santhosh.
Nitin Nabin has largely kept a new team, while retaining a number of time-tested old-timers notwithstanding their limitations and controversies. The revamp, charted out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Amit Shah and Nitin Nabin, represents a significant generational and strategic reset, at least in numbers.
The party has ensured that 51 of the 65 office-bearers are new faces, with 10 women among them, including Vasundhara Raje Scindia.
The elevation of Tariq Mansoor and Basit Ali from poll-bound Uttar Pradesh signals a renewed effort to reach sections of Muslim voters, particularly as caste and sect-based identities reshape the community’s electoral politics.
Muslims account for roughly 20% of Uttar Pradesh’s population and are electorally significant across several regions. The BJP has repeatedly attempted in recent years to reach sections of the community, particularly Pasmanda Muslims — socially and economically marginalised groups within the Muslim community.
The elevation of Mansoor and Ali gives that outreach a more visible organisational face. But the strategy goes beyond Uttar Pradesh.
The BJP president’s new team retains several old faces while bringing back articulate leaders such as Smriti Irani and Ram Madhav.
To some analysts, the BJP rejig is hardly a message about rebuilding the party for the next 10 years or so. The big-picture message, they argue, is that Amit Shah, Union Minister for Home Affairs and former BJP president, will continue to run the show.
Sceptics say Nitin Nabin may continue to be a lacklustre and rubber-stamp party president.
There was no mega surprise in “Team Nabin”.
Stale headlines emerged everywhere about Ram Madhav’s return, but he is only a vice president. In the BJP’s scheme of things, the vice president’s post does not hold much political influence.
Even among the general secretaries, there are two old names — Biplab Kumar Deb and Smriti Irani. Deb was shunted out of Tripura in a salvage mission to save the state government. Deb is eager to return to the prized fiefdom, but Amit Shah and Nitin Nabin are not willing to oblige him.
Smriti Irani was allegedly overambitious, but she may now find a larger space to take on Rahul Gandhi personally. Much to her credit, of course, she humbled the Congress leader at Amethi in 2019.
From the Northeast, Nagaland MP Phangnon Konyak and Mriganka Deo Barman of Assam have made it to the national team, besides Biplab Deb.
The basic differences between the BJP and the Congress can be understood through two factors.
First, the Lotus party is always in an election-preparation phase. Second, while the battle is on, it applies new strategies and methodologies. In other words, it may not be too keen to fight new battles exactly as it fought the previous ones.
With the Congress, generally, the organisation is not prepared to fight elections and would, in all probability, depend on old and time-tested strategies.
Based on these assumptions, it would be worthwhile to examine the BJP’s new plans through the Nabin team and the assignments given to the new office-bearers.
As many as eight leaders from Uttar Pradesh have been taken into the new national organisation. Hence, without doubt, winning Uttar Pradesh will be important.
But there is pressure.
The BJP has won the last two Assembly polls — 2017 and 2022 — and there will be anti-incumbency as well as the law of averages working against the party.
The first meeting of Team Nabin on Saturday, therefore, assumes significance. The key question is whether the new BJP president can translate the organisational reshuffle into a clear electoral strategy ahead of the crucial battles, particularly Uttar Pradesh in 2027.
BJP’s Muslim Outreach Gets New Faces: Why Tariq Mansoor Matters
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