‘An ordinary BJP karyakarta’: Smriti Irani joins BJP's national team as general secretary; thanks PM Modi, Nitin Nabin

Former Union minister Smriti Irani has returned to the Bharatiya Janata Party's national organisational leadership, thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Nitin Nabin after being appointed a national general secretary on Monday.

Irani, a former Lok Sabha member from Amethi, said the new role gave her another opportunity to work for the party and the country. Her appointment comes nearly six months after Nabin took charge as BJP national president.

"From an ordinary BJP karyakarta to being entrusted with the responsibility of serving as the National General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party, this journey has been deeply humbling," Irani said on X.

"I am deeply honoured and grateful to Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP National President Nitin Nabin for entrusting me with this responsibility and giving me yet another opportunity to serve the Sangathan and the Nation," she added.

Smriti Irani vows to strengthen BJP organisation

Irani said her appointment reflected the BJP's emphasis on its grassroots workers and described her elevation to the national leadership as a responsibility to contribute to the organisation.

“BJP has created an ordinary worker like me and bestowed upon me the extraordinary responsibility of National General Secretary to contribute to the organization--this is a tribute to the worker-centric system.”

She said every organisational responsibility for a BJP worker should be viewed primarily as an opportunity to serve, guided by the party's "Rashtra Pratham" principle.

"It is with this spirit, and with the continued guidance of our senior leadership, that I look forward to taking on this responsibility with renewed commitment, strengthening the Sangathan at the grassroots and contributing to the larger mission of nation-building and serving Maa Bharti," she said.

Irani also congratulated the other leaders appointed to the BJP's national team.

BJP announces new national general secretaries

The Nitin Nabin team has several new faces and is a mix of experience and youth. BL Santosh will continue in his position as National General Secretary (Organisation).

Former Amethi MP Smriti Irani, former Tripura CM Biplab Deb, Sunil Bansal, Vinod Tawde, Gajendra Patel, Satish Poonia, Harish Dwivedi and Sanjay Bhatia have been entrusted with the key responsibilities as general secretaries.

The announcement comes almost six months after Nitin Nabin became party chief.

BJP has named several senior leaders as National Vice Presidents. They include former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje, former Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat, Ram Madhav, Baijyant Jay Panda, D Purandeshwari, Rekha Verma, Varshaben Narendrabhai Doshi, Bharti Pravin Pawar, Manpreet Singh Badal, Lal Singh Arya, Prof. M. Nagaraja, Prof. Tariq Mansoor and Madhuchandra Kar. Six among 13 new vice presidents are women.

Kavita Patidar - Madhya Pradesh, K. Surendran - Keralam, Dr. Bhola Singh - Uttar Pradesh, Pradip Varma - Jharkhand, Jagdish ishwarbhai Patel - Gujarat, Sandeep Pathak - Delhi, Phangnon Konyak - Nagaland, Sangeeta Yadav - Uttar Pradesh, Anil Antony - Keralam, M. Venkateshan - Tamil Nadu, Manoj Tigga West Bengal, Siddharth Shambhu Bihar, Swadesh Singh - Delhi, Shri Mriganka Deo Barman -Assam, Rohan Gupta - Gujarat, Jai Prakash - Delhi have been named as National Secretaries.

Piyush Goyal has once again been entrusted with the responsibility as National Treasurer of the party.

The party has also named RS MP Tarun Chugh as the Central Office In-charge. Gujarat MP Hemang Joshi has been entrusted with the charge of the Yuva Morcha, while the Mahila Morcha will be overseen by Roop Kumari Choudhary from Chhattisgarh

Anil Baluni, who is a Lok Sabha MP, will continue as Media Convenor. The co-convenors are Ashish Usha Agrawal - Madhya Pradesh, Pradeep Bhandari - Delhi and Siddharth Yadav - Delhi. Deepak Mhaskey of Chhattisgarh has been named as Social Media Convenor.

(With agency inputs)