India / JP Nadda replaces Amit Shah as BJP National President

BJP leader J P Nadda on Monday took over from Amit Shah as the new party president. Following the nomination process, he had emerged as the only candidate for the top post.

Nadda, who was appointed as BJP's working president last June, takes over from Shah, whose five-and-a-half year tenure saw the party win its biggest majority in 2019 Lok Sabha election and expanded its footprint across the country.

Senior BJP leader Radha Mohan Singh, who is the incharge of the organisational election process, made the announcement at the party headquarters here.

Outgoing president Amit Shah and other senior leaders congratulated the Himachal Pradesh leader, who had been serving as the party's working president. He will serve for three years at the helm.

Nadda's name had been proposed by top party leaders, including Union ministers Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, besides several chief ministers during the nomination process.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to felicitate Nadda at the party office and both leaders will later hold a meeting with chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of the states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Nadda has followed in the shoes of many other well known politicians, rising through the ranks from being elected as the Secretary of the Patna University at the age of 17. He would then go on to join ABVP, the student wing of RSS. He was the national general secretary of the ABVP from 1986 to 1989.

At the age of 31 he was appointed the president of the BJP’s youth wing, and following the the BJP-led government's reelection, Nadda was appointed as the party's working president in June last year.

Numerous BJP leaders have hailed Nadda's appointment.