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New appointments reveal Nabin’s discretion amid Modi, Shah, RSS influence.

The first national team of BJP president Nitin Nabin is understood to have been finalised through a process involving Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Nabin and the RSS. The exercise reflects a balance of their respective preferences, regional aspirations and organisational considerations. However, party leaders familiar with the discussions said the exercise was not one in which the multiple  power centres sought to exercise equal or excessive influence over every appointment. The Prime Minister, in particular, is understood to have refrained from overexercising his position, while Nabin was given the maximum space among the five to decide whom he wanted in his team.

The result, according to these leaders, is therefore best understood as Nabin’s team, albeit one in which the preferences of Modi, Shah and the RSS were accommodated at specific points. In several cases, a name did not have the backing of all stakeholders but was nevertheless included because one of them strongly wanted the person to be part of the organisation. The final list thus reflects not unanimous agreement on every appointment but an accommodation of competing preferences. Party leaders said the appointment of Hemang Joshi as president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha was one such instance where the Prime Minister’s preference was significant. Joshi is understood to have been backed by Modi, who was impressed by his organisational work.

The return of Ram Madhav to the BJP’s national organisation, meanwhile, is understood to have been pushed by the RSS. Madhav, who has a long association with the Sangh, has returned to the BJP’s national team after having earlier served as a general secretary. The Chhattisgarh appointments were another area where Nabin’s own preferences are understood to have played a significant role, with the names being forwarded by the BJP president. Few of the appointments, party sources said, were the choice of B.L. Santosh, national general secretary (Organization). There were also instances where the inclusion of particular names was discussed within the top leadership, with reservations expressed by at least one of the stakeholders.

However, such names ultimately made it to the final list because they had the backing of another member of the power structure. One such case involved an appointment to the party’s media panel. There was understood to have been discussion over the name, including reservations from one of the stakeholders, but the person was ultimately included because of the backing of another of the power centers. The pattern is significant because it indicates that the process was not based on a single command structure in which every name had to have the approval of all four. Instead, a strong preference from one of them could be sufficient to secure a place for a candidate despite reservations elsewhere.

The exclusions from the team are equally revealing. Some leaders who had actively projected themselves as likely entrants into Nabin’s team were ultimately left out. In at least one case, a person, who has served as a union minister ,  had indicated in a private forum that he or she would be part of the new team but did not find a place in the final list. According to party leaders familiar with the discussions, there were multiple reasons for such exclusions. Among the factors considered in at least some cases was the individual’s previous working relationship with Nabin. The contrast between those who were included despite reservations and those who expected to be included but were left out provides an indication of how the new BJP president exercised his discretion while balancing the preferences of the other power centres.

The exercise, therefore, does not suggest that the new national team was simply imposed on Nabin by the Prime Minister, the Home Minister or the RSS. At the same time, it also does not suggest that the others had no role in the process. Instead, their interventions appear to have been selective, with Nabin retaining the widest room to shape the organisation. The broader composition combines new faces with experienced leaders, including prominent names returning to important organisational positions. The emerging picture, according to party leaders, is therefore of a Nabin-led team shaped through selective interventions by Modi, Shah and the RSS, rather than a team collectively dictated by all four. The significance of the exercise lies as much in who was not accommodated as in who was appointed.

The names that made it into the team despite reservations reveal the influence that each of the four power centres continues to exercise, while the exclusion of leaders who had expected positions indicates the limits of individual lobbying and the importance of Nabin’s own assessment. The first team under Nabin consequently provides an early indication of how the BJP’s organisational power structure is likely to function during his tenure: the party president has the widest operational space, while the Prime Minister, Home Minister and RSS retain the ability to influence specific appointments when they consider a particular name important.