Now it is the BJP majority government for the next 5 years at least, BJP men have their collars high. And in the small state like Himachal it is really a hounor of highest level when its polititian and ex minister of Dhumal’s ex state government , Jagat Parkash Nadda is being sworn in as the chief of the party which has a power in the center. It is for the first time the state of himachal is being crowned with such a big party post. Tipped to be BJP's next national president, Jagat Prakash Nadda, 54, has come down a long distance from the balmy and leisurely political landscape of Himachal Pradesh to the intriguing alleys of national politics., Nadda has almost found himself catapulted from obscurity to being under the spotlights, after his hard work for the party in bringing Modis army to the centre this time.
Though a soft-spoken and staid politician, to his advantage the BJP general secretary learnt his early lessons in politics in the volatile whirlpools of Bihar politics. Though hailing from Himachal Pradesh, he was born in Patna where he started his political career during his student days by joining the Bihar movement. Since then, right from becoming ABVP secretary at Patna University in 1977 to be the frontrunner for BJP's top post, Nadda has covered many milestones during the last 37 years.Known for his organizational skills and oratory, Nadda had entered the politics of Himachal Pradesh as a student leader by becoming the state joint secretary of ABVP in 1980-82. It was during his tenure as ABVP president that SFI was defeated in the state, which otherwise rules student politics in the state.
Having remained an MLA from Bilaspur constituency thrice, Nadda is credited with taking many initiatives which proved a milestone for the state. When he was the forest minister in the state, he brought the idea of community-led advocacy and action programme (CLAP) to monitor environment-friendly technologies for rural development. He was the force behind the idea of imposing blanket ban on use of polythene in Himachal Pradesh. It was his initiative that Himachal Pradesh became the first state in the country to claim carbon credits for ensuring low emission of green house gases.Nadda had shown his organizational skill in 1998 when, along with Narendra Modi, who was the in-charge of BJP in Himachal Pradesh then, he played a crucial role in forming the first coalition government of BJP and Himachal Vikas Congress. BJP leaders in the state said that Modi and Nadda had worked closely in the past. They said that during the 1998 assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, out of 68 seats both BJP and Congress had won 31 seats each while Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) floated by former telecommunication minister Pandit Sukh Ram had bagged five seats while one seat had gone to Independent candidate.
Recalling the time, BJP leaders said that Narendra Modi was in-charge of BJP in Himachal Pradesh at that time and along with Nadda he had played a crucial role in bringing Ramesh Dhwala, who had contested as an independent, into the BJP fold.
Sources said that high political drama was witnessed in Himachal Pradesh in 1998 and it was least expected that BJP would form the government as Congress under Virbhadra Singh too was trying to form the government. "But it was the combined strategy of Modi and Nadda that helped form the first coalition government of BJP-HVC in the history of Himachal Pradesh," sources added.Nadda entered national politics in 2012 when he became the national general secretary of BJP. Sources said that he is considered close to Modi, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, besides being a RSS confident.