Manoj Tiwari is new Delhi BJP chief

New Delhi: In a major reshuffle ahead of next year’s municipal polls to woo Poorvanchali voters, BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday appointed Bhojpuri singer-turned-politician and Lok Sabha member from Northeast Delhi, Manoj Tiwari, as new president of Delhi BJP. Party leadership believes that the appointment of Mr Tiwari as state president will end existing perception among the voters that the BJP is a party of traders, Sikhs and Punjabis.

Mr Tiwari’s appointment is termed historic as for the first time, a leader from Poorvanchal has been appointed state president. Poorvanchalis, people from Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh, constitute nearly 40 per cent of vote share in the national capital. During 2013 and 2015 Delhi Assembly polls, the community voted en masse for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). With the support of Poorvanchali voters, Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP had won the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls with a historic mandate. “To win back Poorvanchali voters is the primary reason for the appointment of Mr Tiwari,” said a party insider. In Delhi, there are at least 20 Assembly constituencies or 80 municipal wards that are dominated by the Poorvanchalis, where they constitute 17 to 47 per cent of the vote share.