OP Dhankar appointed BJP's Haryana unit president

Chandigarh: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President JP Nadda on Sunday (July 19) appointed Om Prakash Dhankar as the head of party Haryana unit. A party communication said Dhankar’s appointment was made with immediate effect.

By appointing Dhankar, the BJP has continued with a Jat face, the most dominant caste in the state. The appointment is also seen as an attempt to balance the caste equations in the state, where politics revolves around Jats and non-Jats. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is also a non-Jat.

Dhankar will replace incumbent Subhash Barala, who was also a Jat.

Both Dhankar and Barala had lost the Harayana Assembly elections held in October 2019. Dhankar was a Cabinet minister in the BJP government in Haryana.

OP Dhankar's political association spans over 30 years. He has held key positions such as State General Secretary, State President, National Secretary, and National President in various BJP and its affiliate organizations. 

After 18 years of association with RSS, in 1996 he joined BJP and performed duties as a national secretary during Vajpayee era. He was Pradesh Prabhari for Himachal Pradesh and greatly contributed to BJP government formation in the hilly state.

He has held various padayatras and cycle yatras to agitate and protest against meager compensation and arbitrary land acquisition for Special Economic Zone.