New Delhi, Sept. 26 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday appointed Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan as election in-charge for poll-bound Bihar. He will be assisted by Union minister CR Patil and deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Keshav Prasad Maurya. The party also appointed Union minister Bhupender Yadav as election in-charge for West Bengal, which will go to the polls in early 2026 and he will be assisted by former Tripura chief minister Biplab Dev. In Tamil Nadu, which also goes to the polls next year, BJP lawmaker Baijayant Panda has been made election in-charge and will be assisted by minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol. Pradhan and Yadav are credited with steering the party's election juggernaut to victory in multiple states. In 2024, while Yadav led the party's campaign in Maharashtra, Pradhan along with Deb were in-charge and co-in-charge for Haryana. Both were states where the BJP faced anti-incumbency and the local unit was in disarray -- but the party won Haryana and was part of the winning alliance in Maharashtra. Pradhan has overseen elections in Uttar Pradesh (2022), which the BJP won and Karnataka (2023), which it lost, and held organisational duties in Bihar and Jharkhand. Although the three leaders deputed for the election process in Bihar are all from the other backward classes (OBCs), the party is banking on a diverse coalition of castes to steer its election to victory. According to party leaders the NDA's poll planks will be social justice and development and emphasise how Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Nitish Kumar exemplify commitment to the empowerment of the poor and the marginalised. While seat sharing discussions are underway, there is a proposal to swap seats between allies to ensure that the overall strike rate and numbers go up. Yadav has earlier overseen elections in Rajasthan (2013), Jharkhand (2014), Bihar (2015), Telangana( Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls in 2020), Manipur (2022) , Madhya Pradesh (2023) and Odisha (2024). His work in Bengal will include addressing differences in the state unit and shaping the BJP's poll narrative. In Tamil Nadu, where the party has re-inked its alliance with the AIADMK, Panda, who was earlier in charge of the Delhi elections, which the party won, will have the task of working closely with the ally to navigate tricky issues of seat sharing....