Thiruvananthapuram, August 17
Former Kerala BJP president K. Surendran and Anil Antony, son of veteran Congress leader and former Defence Minister A.K. Antony, have been appointed national secretaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The two Kerala leaders figure among the 16 national secretaries named as part of the BJP’s organisational revamp under party president Nitin Nabin. Their elevation is expected to give Kerala greater representation in the party’s national leadership.
Surendran previously headed the BJP’s Kerala unit and played a prominent role in expanding its organisational network in the State. Anil Antony joined the BJP in 2023 after resigning from the Congress and has since represented the party at national forums.
Former AAP leader Sandeep Pathak and former Congress leader Rohan Gupta have also been appointed national secretaries. The other appointees include Kavita Patidar, Bhola Singh, Pradeep Verma, Jagdish Ishwarbhai Patel, Fhangnon Konyak, Sangeeta Yadav, M. Venkatesan, Manoj Tigga, Siddharth Shambhu, Swadesh Singh, Mriganka Deb Barman and Jai Prakash.
The BJP also appointed 13 national vice-presidents. Prominent names include former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Ram Madhav, Baijayant Jay Panda, D. Purandeshwari and former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat.
Former Union Minister Smriti Irani and former Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb are among the eight national general secretaries. Sunil Bansal, Vinod Tawde, Satish Poonia, Gajendra Patel, Harish Dwivedi and Sanjay Bhatia were also included.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal has been named national treasurer, with Rajesh Mangal as co-treasurer. B.L. Santhosh will continue as national general secretary in charge of organisation, assisted by Shivprakash and Saudan Singh as joint general secretaries.
Sambit Patra has been appointed Northeast coordinator, with Rajeev Babbar as his deputy. The appointments are aimed at improving organisational coordination between the BJP’s central leadership and its State units.
