The BJP has silently picked senior Rajasthan hand Satish Poonia to handle party affairs in election-bound Punjab.
Poonia, 64, has been hand-picked by BJP president Nitin Nabin and party general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh to achieve on the ground in Punjab what he achieved as in the charge of Haryana affairs, starting July 2024.
Poonia was seen as a key delivery person in the BJP’s winning strategy for the 2024 Haryana elections when the party struck a hat-trick.
Poonia is a senior leader from neighbouring Rajasthan and had earlier served as BJP’s Rajasthan president and later as Leader of Opposition for the BJP in Rajasthan.
He was recently nominated for Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan along with Alka Gurjar.
Mild-mannered and methodical, Poonia helped expand the BJP non-Jat consolidation in Haryana.
The BJP has how asked Poonia to meet Punjab leaders and put together the grass-roots party organisation which will enlarge the outfit and its base in election-bound Punjab.
A formal announcement of Poonia’s name is expected any time soon with Nitin Nabin in the process of overhauling the party structure.
In the meantime, Poonia has been given a go-ahead by the central BJP to prepare the blueprint for the BJP Punjab organisation and hold ground level meetings in the state.
Along with Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini who is already playing an active role in the state, Poonia has been tasked to energise the Punjab rank and file and keep it battle-ready for the 2027 elections.
Preliminary meetings have already taken place with Poonia in Chandigarh taking stock of the Punjab ground situation and planning the way forward.
Poonia began informal engagements in Punjab last week.
Importantly, as part of the BJP Yuva Morcha earlier, Poonia has headed the Punjab BJP youth wing and is familiar with the dynamics of the state.
He will take the place of Vijay Rupani who was last in-charge of the BJP Punjab and died in the Ahmedabad plane crash on June 12, 2025.
The Punjab BJP has since been running without an in charge and with just a co-in charge in J&K MLA Narinder Raina.
The party structure is now being put back in place.
