By Firstdespatch Desk Aug 17, 2026
Agartala, Aug 17 (FD) Former Tripura chief minister and West Tripura MP Biplab Kumar Deb has been appointed a national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as part of the party’s new organisational team, which also gives greater representation to leaders from the Northeast.
Deb is among eight leaders appointed national general secretaries by BJP president Nitin Nabin on August 17. Former Union minister Smriti Irani, Sunil Bansal, Vinod Tawde, Gajendra Patel, Satish Poonia, Harish Dwivedi and Sanjay Bhatia are the other general secretaries.
The appointment marks Deb’s return to a prominent organisational role in the BJP. After becoming the party’s Tripura president in 2016, he led the BJP to power in the 2018 Assembly elections, ending the Left Front’s 25-year rule in the state. He served as chief minister from 2018 to 2022 before being elected to the Lok Sabha from West Tripura.
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha congratulated Deb on his appointment, saying his administrative experience and grassroots leadership would strengthen the BJP’s organisation across the country.
The Northeast’s representation in the new organisational team extends beyond Tripura. Phangnon Konyak of Nagaland and Mriganka Deo Barman of Assam have been appointed national secretaries, giving the region a presence among the party’s key organisational office-bearers.
Konyak, a Rajya Sabha MP from Nagaland, has been included in the national secretariat alongside leaders including Sandeep Pathak, Anil Antony, Rohan Gupta and Manoj Tigga. Barman is among the BJP’s new national secretaries from Assam.
The appointments were announced nearly six months after Nitin Nabin took charge as BJP president. The new team combines experienced leaders with younger faces and provides substantial representation to women.
The party has appointed 13 national vice-presidents, including former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, former Uttarakhand chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat, Ram Madhav and Baijayant Jay Panda. Six of the 13 vice-presidents are women.
Piyush Goyal will continue as the BJP’s national treasurer, while Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh has been appointed central office in-charge. Gujarat MP Hemang Joshi will head the Yuva Morcha, while Chhattisgarh MP Roop Kumari Choudhary will oversee the Mahila Morcha.
Lok Sabha MP Anil Baluni will continue as media convenor, with Ashish Usha Agrawal, Pradeep Bhandari and Siddharth Yadav appointed as co-convenors. Deepak Mhaskey of Chhattisgarh has been appointed social media convenor.
The new organisational team will face its first major electoral test in 2027, when several states, including Uttar Pradesh, go to the polls. The organisational changes may also precede a possible reshuffle of the Union Cabinet. FD JK