On January 20, 2026, BJP has appointed 45-year-old Nitin Naveen as its 12th national president. He has been elected MLA from Patna West five times and is also a minister in the Bihar government. But there are many big challenges before them, like upcoming elections, delimitation, women’s reservation and strengthening the organization. Nitin Naveen is the youngest president, while opposition leaders like Mallikarjun Kharge (83), Lalu Yadav (77), Nitish Kumar (74), Mamata Banerjee (71), Mayawati (70), Kejriwal (57), Akhilesh Yadav (52) are older.
For this reason, there are 5 big challenges before Nitin Naveen…
Challenge 1: 2026 assembly elections and 2029 Lok Sabha elections
The most immediate challenge before Nitin Naveen is the assembly elections of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry and Kerala in 2026. BJP’s victory in these states is not easy. There is a desire for power in West Bengal, return in Assam, better performance in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, return in Puducherry. The main challenge is to prepare the party for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, which will be held during delimitation.
Challenge 2: North-South coordination in delimitation and seat sharing
The 2029 elections will be held during the delimitation process. Under the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, reservation of 33% seats for women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies will be implemented, which will be done with delimitation after the census. The government has issued the census notification, which will be completed by March 1, 2027. Modi government aims to implement women’s reservation in 2029. Maintaining coordination between North and South India on seat distribution is a big challenge.
Challenge 3: Making a strategy for women’s reservation
With the implementation of women’s reservation, 33% women candidates will have to be selected. Nitin Naveen will have to make a strategy for this, which will affect the organization and election preparations.
Challenge 4: Building consensus on one nation, one election
Nitin Naveen’s challenge is to create political and organizational consensus for one nation, one election. This is a big change, which may be beneficial for the party but will increase conflict with the opposition parties.
Challenge 5: Leadership, Organization and Global Change
By 2029, Narendra Modi will be around 80 years old, so it is a big challenge to decide the leadership after Modi. Amit Shah is number two, but everyone will have to agree on his decision. Yogi Adityanath is also a possibility, but his hold in the organization is less. Experts say that after Modi, a situation of Shah vs Yogi may arise. Nitin is Naveen Shah’s choice, but relations with Yogi are important. After the top, the leadership from below is weak in BJP.
The challenge at the organizational level is that BJP is now a party of high command, where power is centralized. Nitin Naveen will have to strike a balance between the decisions of the high command and organizational discipline. It is difficult to strengthen the organization in South India.
Apart from this, BJP has to add linguistic and cultural diversity of India. The problem is in the South and East, where there are strong regional and caste-based parties. Difficult to deal with in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
RSS affiliation does not matter in BJP
Nitin was selected because he is close to Amit Shah and Narendra Modi. In BJP, even a common worker can become the national president, but critics say that decisions are taken as per the wishes of Modi and Shah. Senior journalist Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay told BBC that Nitin Naveen has not shown potential at the national and Bihar level, but he is acceptable in both the RSS and the BJP. There was no RSS disagreement, which is important in choosing the president. In 2005, Lal Krishna Advani had to resign under pressure from RSS. Nitin Naveen is not associated with the Sangh, but after 2014, this thing does not matter in BJP. The BJP is now strong, with 240 Lok Sabha seats, governments in 21 states and 99 MPs in the Rajya Sabha.
