CHENNAI: The BJP on Wednesday appointed national vice-president Ram Madhav as the party's in-charge for Tamil Nadu, with Nirmal Kumar Surana and DK Aruna as co-in-charges, in a nationwide organisational reshuffle initiated by party president Nitin Nabin.

The appointments take immediate effect. Ram Madhav, who served as the BJP's national general secretary from 2014 to 2020, has also been given the charge of Uttarakhand. His appointment comes as the party reworks its organisational structure across the country ahead of Assembly elections scheduled in several states in 2027 and the Lok Sabha elections in 2029.

The Tamil Nadu appointments assume significance with Vanathi Srinivasan, a former BJP MLA from the state, being appointed co-in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, where Arvind Bhadoria will be the in-charge. The latest organisational allocation leaves Vanathi without a formal responsibility in the Tamil Nadu unit.

Vanathi had been among the names discussed for the BJP's state president selection. Her move to Andhra now takes her out of the Tamil Nadu organisational set-up at a time when attention is on the party's next state leadership arrangement.

Meanwhile, M Venkatesan, has been named co-in-charge of Kerala, with M Nagaraja as the state in-charge.