Chandigarh, Oct. 27 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed Union jal shakti minister Chandrakant Raghunath Patil, a trusted aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as its election in-charge for Punjab.

Though the party is yet to formally announce Patil's appointment, the Union minister has hit the ground running, holding at least five meetings on poll preparations in the state, party leaders privy to the matter said.

"Patil has been involved in poll strategy since August, and his trusted teams are already in the state to conduct surveys, streamline the BJP's media and social media strategies, and zero in on potential candidates. It was after his intervention at a meeting that the Rajya Sabha member Sandeep Pathak, who switched ...