Manish Anand By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: After almost over two years of delay, the BJP president Amit Shah finally appointed the chiefs of the party units in Bihar and Delhi. In choosing Bhojpuri singer turned politician Manoj Tiwari and Nityanand Rai as chiefs of Delhi and Bihar units respectively, Shah has sought to give a fresh lease of life in the organization by opting for young faces who are not identified with any camps within the party.



The outgoing Bihar BJP chief Mangal Pandey's term had come to an end about two years ago. Similar was the case with Satish Upadhyay in Delhi who had taken the baton of the leadership in the national capital from city MLA Vijendra Gupta.



While Pandey was seen as a nominee of the former deputy chief minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi, Rai has largely been seen a neutral in the state politics. In picking up Rai, the BJP chief has sought spring a surprise by opting for a Yadav as the state unit chief. Rai, 50, had been a three term MLA and is now Lok Sabha MP. Incidentally, Rai is a distant relative of the former leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav.



Enjoying support of the RSS, Rai along with a few other state leaders had rebelled against the leadership of Sushil Kumar Modi a few years ago. Even while there had been a clamour to appoint a leader from the upper caste as the Bihar unit chief, Shah by opting for Rai has given a clear message that the saffron outfit would seek to make inroads into the core constituency of the RJD headed by Lalu Prasad.



Shah by picking up Tiwari for Delhi appears to have finally admitted the change in demography of the national capital, with significant chunk of population consisting of the settlers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. While Tiwari had been seeking Lok Sabha ticket from Buxor in Bihar in 2014 elections, the BJP had fielded him from North-east Delhi to cash in on the Poorvanchali voters. However, the BJP could not match the Aam Admi Party (AAP)'s appeal among the Poorvanchalis, with the party seen an outfit of "Punjabis and Baniyas". The wife of the suspended BJP MP Kirti Azad, Poonam Azad, who held senior position in the city unit of the party, had recently joined the AAP.



"With Manoj Tiwari as the head of the Delhi unit of the BJP, Shah has finally broken the caucus of senior party leaders Vijay Kumar Malhotra and Vijay Goyal. Tiwari is young and an outsider for Delhi politics. He can give a new direction to the party in the city by making inroads into the core constituency of the AAP," said sources close to Shah.



While the Bihar Assembly elections are still a long way down the round being slated for 2020, Tiwari has task cut out for him, as the BJP will face the MCD elections next year. While the BJP had been in power in the MCD for almost a decade, Tiwari would have to strategise to find ways to beat the anti-incumbency factor against the BJP, besides checking the rise of the AAP at the municipal ward level. He will also have to rise up to the challenge of the Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken, who has been working in the jhuggis, slum settlement colonies, and unauthorised colonies to lay the path of the revival of the party in the national capital.