Ram Madhav returns, made BJP's J-K poll in-charge with Reddy

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh functionary and former Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Ram Madhav on Tuesday made a return to active politics as the party appointed him in-charge for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir along with Union minister G Kishan Reddy.

A BJP statement said its president J P Nadda has appointed the two leaders as poll in-charge.

It is unusual that two leaders are made election in-charge together as, generally, an in-charge is joined by one or more co-incharges.

As a key BJP organisational leader between 2014-2020, Madhav was deeply involved with the politics of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir and was seen instrumental in its unlikely alliance with the People's Democratic Party in 2015 after the 2014 assembly polls threw up a hung verdict.

He was in charge when the BJP snapped ties with the PDP in 2018.

The BJP leadership's decision to bring Madhav back underlines the useful role he may play for the party in navigating the Union Territory's politics, full of fault lines and contesting narratives, and devoid of an overarching theme.

Sources said the appointment also hints at the likely RSS role.

Madhav was removed as BJP general secretary in 2020 and returned to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 2021 and was made an executive member of the Hindutva organisation.

He is also the president of the think tank India Foundation and is a regular contributor to opinion pages in the media.

In his previous tenure in the BJP, he was one of the more visible party general secretaries who also fronted its expansion drive in the Northeast region.