Jagat
Prakash Nadda, or JP Nadda, faces one of the biggest tests since becoming
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President on Saturday, November 6. On this day,
the BJP president’s home state Himachal Pradesh goes to polls. The 61-year-old
former Himachal MLA realises the import of the election and has therefore sought
to prove his political mettle this election. Filling Amit Shah’s shoes is no
mean task and Nadda seems to want to assure to BJP that he is up to the task, especially
since his term as BJP president will continue to 2024.

Who is
JP Nadda?

Jagat
Prakash Nadda was born on January 2, 2024 in Bihar capital Patna to Narain Lall
Nadda and Krishna Nadda. His family was originally from Himachal Pradesh. Nadda’s
brother was named Jagat Bhushan Nadda.

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JP Nadda did
his schooling from St. Xavier’s Patna. He later did his Bachelor of Arts (BA)
degree from Patna College and then went on to do his LLB from Faculty of Law,
Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. A young sportsman, Nadda represented Bihar
in the All-India Junior Swimming Championship. On December 11, 1991, JP Nadda
married Mallika Nadda (nee Banerjee). He has two sons.

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JP Nadda
was elected to the Himachal Pradesh Assembly for the first time in 1993. From
1994 to 1998, he was the leader of the party group in the Himachal Assembly.
Nadda was the Minister of Health and Family Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs during
his second term. Elected again in 2007, Nadda served as Himachal’s Minister of
Forest, Environment, Science and Technology from 2008 to 2010.

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He did not
seek re-election in 2012 and instead became a member of the Rajya Sabha. In
2014, JP Nadda became Union Minister of Health. Five years later, in 2019, he
was called in to take Amit Shah’s place as the BJP National President after
Shah was appointed Union Home Minister. Nadda’s term as BJP president has been
extended till 2024.