The New BJP
On August 15, 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech had called for bringing 100,000 youth with no previous political affiliations into politics. He made it clear that the youth should join any party of their choice.
The Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue coinciding with the National Youth Festival in January 2025 in Delhi was an extension to the idea. Modi himself attended the three-day programme where 3,000 young leaders from different fields of life presented their ideas for realising the goal of Viksit Bharat by 2047. Unlike other political parties, where generational shift is hard to implement, BJP has been the torchbearer in bringing in new leaders right from the top to the lower level. The current initiative also reflects the party’s efforts to lure the Gen Z and millennials into its fold amid a growing sense of disconnect in recent times.
Earlier this month, BJP appointed 45-year-old Nitin Nabin, a five-time MLA and Bihar state minister, as its national working president. He has also worked as BJP in-charge of Sikkim and Chhattisgarh and is known to work silently without attracting publicity. Nabin’s appointment signals that the party is rooting for young faces who are working in the state government as well as BJP organisation diligently with a potential to lead the party in future.
Over the past few years, BJP has experimented with new chief ministers replacing old satraps and new state presidents, trying to give a fresh energy to the party in states. In October this year, the entire Gujarat Cabinet was rejigged with 25 new ministers taking oath. This was one of the biggest reshuffles in any state government by BJP. In November, after winning Bihar elections, the party replaced more than half of its earlier ministers with fresh faces.
Sources in BJP told ET that the party is in the middle of a transition phase and several changes are going to take place both in the organisation as well as the government. Aligning with PM Modi’s goal of ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’, BJP is in the process of creating a pool of leaders who can lead the party for the coming 20 years and work on the 2047 roadmap, they said. A Cabinet reshuffle at the Centre is likely to take place after Makar Sankranti, where the focus would again be on fresh faces and youthful energy.In April, 37 Rajya Sabha seats will go vacant. BJP presently has only nine members among them. The number will increase after the election as the party will gain seats in Bihar, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and a few other states. As per sources, some new faces who will join the Upper House stand a chance to be inducted in the Union Cabinet. The average age of Modi’s Cabinet has been declining from 62 years in 2014 to 60 years in 2019 to 58 years in 2024. BJP sources indicate that this could further decline after the reshuffle.
BJP is likely to hold its national convention some time in February in Delhi, where Nabin may be appointed as the party national president. The organisational changes will take place after that. Several senior general secretaries and secretaries will give way to younger leaders.
Caught in Transition
With younger faces set to dominate the party and government structure, there is a question mark over the current set of leadership. What will happen to senior leaders who are caught in the middle of the transition? There are several leaders who have been part of the central government for the past three terms, handling crucial ministries. Similarly, within the organisation, there are a set of fixtures that have performed the organisational role for long.
Many of these leaders are neither young nor old enough to be eased out. They retain a strong presence on the ground and remain connected with party workers at the grassroots level. How BJP leadership deals with this cohort will be closely watched. Sources told ET that the party is in no hurry to rest them or impose younger leadership over them. This group will remain relevant while the transition will happen side by side, they said. These leaders still have time to drive the party and the government for the coming five to 15 years, depending on their age bracket. Apart from taking the current agenda of the government and party ideology forward, they will also be tasked to make the younger generation future ready, both in the government as well as the organisation. Some of the Union ministers could also get organisational roles and vice versa in the new set up.
There is a small set of leaders who are in the fag end of their political career. The changes are most likely to happen at this level where many of them would be rested and given responsibilities like expanding the ideological base of the party based on their capabilities and experience. In all, there would be an attempt to get a right mix of experience and youthful energy in the party structure as well as the organisation.
Electoral Barriers
After the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, BJP has been on a successful electoral journey, having won every state election barring Jharkhand. By winning Delhi and Maharashtra, it broke electoral barriers which further strengthened the party. The party is entering into 2026 after a sweeping win in Bihar. However, BJP has some serious challenges ahead. The party is trying to break the hitherto unreached boundaries in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala which are headed for assembly elections in the New Year. BJP has been pushing hard to gain a foothold in these states for the past two elections. However, a visible electoral success has eluded the party.
In Kerala, BJP has tested some success in the recent corporation elections, and the party hopes to end the drought in the upcoming assembly elections. It is running a highpitch campaign under state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar. In West Bengal, BJP is the leading Opposition party and is pushing hard to win the state. It has appointed Bhupender Yadav as election in-charge. He is credited with the party’s success in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and several other states. In Tamil Nadu, BJP is trying to dethrone DMK government by forging an alliance with all the like-minded parties. Despite achieving several electoral firsts, these three states have prevented BJP from electoral dominance across the country. It will be a litmus test for the new BJP leadership whether it can achieve the desirable results in 2026.
Managing Allies
BJP has been successful in taking along its partners within the NDA over the years even as the Opposition has been struggling to stick together. BJP’s biggest strength is that it doesn’t hesitate to take backstage and give preference to allies in managing the power equation. Bihar is a perfect example where BJP not only managed to hold smaller allies by giving them more seats but also rallied behind Nitish Kumar as a leader despite emerging as the single largest party. In 2026, BJP will have to work on creating similar alliances in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry and Kerala. In Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, BJP is happily playing second fiddle to the leading parties in the alliance AIADMK and NR Congress, respectively.
Union home minister Amit Shah, who is personally looking after the party campaign with a focus on West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, has been trying hard to bring more parties under the NDA umbrella in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Overall, 2026 will be a demanding year for BJP, one that could shape its future goals and strategies.
