BJP taps Jat leaders Satish Poonia, Manpreet Badal to expand outreach in Punjab

Key points

• When then-incumbent Vijay Rupani, former Gujarat CM, died in the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad, the BJP state unit has…
• Former BJP Rajasthan president and former Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly, Poonia was also elected to the…
• With the appointment of Manpreet Badal, the saffron party wants to take on Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring.
• Punjab BJP leader and Member of Parliament Tarun Chugh has been appointed as the BJP’s state in-charge for Gujarat.

As in-charge of Punjab, also to expand the party’s electoral outreach, CHANDIGARH: With the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections less than six months away, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today appointed the party’s Haryana in-charge and Member of Parliament, Satish Poonia, a Jat leader.

As the party traditionally relies on an urban and semi-urban Hindu voter base in Punjab, while Manpreet Singh Badal, also a Jat leader, was yesterday appointed as national vice-president of the party so as to break into the rural, agrarian domain dominated by the dominant Jat Sikh community.

Meanwhile, Punjab BJP leader and Member of Parliament Tarun Chugh has been appointed as the BJP’s state in-charge for Gujarat.

The party is banking heavily on Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini to build an independent support base among Punjab’s influential OBC and rural communities.

What happened

Since last year, Saini has attended dozens of political and community events across Punjab, a move political observers see as part of a calculated BJP strategy to expand beyond its traditional urban Hindu voter base in a state where the party at present holds only two seats in the 117-member Assembly.

According to sources, 64-year-old Poonia, national general secretary and Member of Parliament from the Rajya Sabha, who hails from Rajasthan, was at present serving as the party’s in-charge for Haryana, a post he has held since July 2024, and is regarded as one of the key strategists behind the saffron party’s hat-trick victory in the Haryana Assembly elections two years back.

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For the last three months, he was working as an observer to oversee the formation of the new state executive under recently appointed Punjab BJP chief Kewal Singh Dhillon and was given the task of strengthening the Punjab BJP organisation.

A formal announcement of Poonia’s appointment was being expected as yesterday BJP national president Nitin Nabin finalised his new team.

The details

When then-incumbent Vijay Rupani, former Gujarat CM, died in the AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad, the BJP state unit has been functioning without an in-charge since June 12, 2025.

The BJP is expected to retry the Haryana winning model in Punjab by improving outreach to the politically influential Jat Sikhs and boosting OBC and Dalit outreach.

Former BJP Rajasthan president and former Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly, Poonia was also elected to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan in June this year.

He had already been sounded out by the top leadership of the party to take charge of Punjab, and Poonia had already begun informal meetings with senior Punjab BJP leaders.

Why it matters

In June, Poonia had reportedly met BJP president Nitin Nabin and national general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh. This person tasked him with the new responsibility of Punjab, where the party is planning an electoral outreach.

Former BJP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh. This person hails from Amritsar in Punjab, will be in charge of the party in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

In June, he was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh. While yesterday Chugh was appointed national headquarters in-charge, he will continue in his role as national headquarters in-charge.

While yesterday, former Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, known within political circles for his unique fondness for the number 786, considered sacred in Islam, was appointed national vice-president of the BJP, thus marking a political turnaround for the veteran leader who has hopped across every major political party before finding a footing in the BJP.

Background

Despite being among Punjab’s most articulate orators, he was not often seen in the forefront at any BJP rally or function in the state. Badal had served as the finance minister in the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) government then led by his uncle Parkash Singh Badal, before forming his own party PPP and then joining the Congress under Capt Amarinder Singh before the 2023 shift to the BJP.

His role as a national vice-president is his biggest in a party organisational set-up yet.

According to sources, the appointment carried significance in the context of Punjab politics as Badal’s base, the Bathinda and Gidderbaha belt, accounts for roughly half of the Malwa region and forms a substantial chunk of the Jat Sikh voters, a community the BJP has long struggled to draw away from the Akalis and the AAP.

As it accounts for 69 of 117 Assembly seats, his elevation was widely read as a calculated attempt to make inroads among Jat Sikh voters, with Malwa holding the largest share of Assembly seats in the state.

What comes next

As he represents the Abohar-Fazilka pocket, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi holds sway in Ferozepur, present party president Kewal Singh Dhillon comes from the Sangrur-Barnala area, and the family of former chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh from the Patiala belt, while former party chief Sunil Jakhar also comes from the Malwa belt of the state.

With the appointment of Manpreet Badal, the saffron party wants to take on Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring. This person is also from the same areas and a Jat leader.