Manoj Tiwari replaced as Delhi BJP chief; Chhattisgarh unit gets new head

Adesh Kumar Gupta to be new president of the Bharatiya Janata Party's Delhi unit

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday announced a few changes in the leadership of its state units, with Manoj Tiwari being replaced as the Delhi unit chief, and former Union minister Vishnudeo Sai taking over the reins of the party’s Chhattisgarh unit.
 
Adesh Kumar Gupta is taking over from Tiwari, who had offered to quit after the BJP’s defeat in the recent Delhi Assembly polls to the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party. Tiwari was again in the news for the wrong reasons for allegedly breaching lockdown rules in the national capital. Gupta, a former North Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor, had won from West Patel Nagar in the 2017 Delhi MCD polls.

"BJP national President JP Nadda has appointed Adesh Kumar Gupta as the Delhi unit President of BJP," read a letter by party's National General Secretary Arun Singh.
 
Sai, who was Union Minister of State for Steel in the first term of the Narendra Modi-led central government, is replacing Vikram Usendi. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP had failed to retain power in the 2018 Assembly polls. The Raman Singh-led BJP government in the state was seeking to form government for fourth straight term. Sai, a member of the 16th Lok Sabha, represented Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh constituency.

In another appointment, the party made S Tikendra Singh its Manipur state president.

These are the first important organisational appointments in the BJP after the coronavirus outbreak curbed political activities and the party primarily focussed on steering relief work for people affected by the lockdown.

The development signals, to some extent, a return of regular political activities as lockdown restrictions across the country are relaxed.