In a major development ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections, BJP president Nitin Nabin on Tuesday appointed Rajasthan leader Satish Poonia as the party’s in-charge for Punjab.Senior general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Vinod Tawde has been given charge of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.Former BJP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Tarun Chugh will be in charge of the party in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.The most consequential appointment is in Punjab, where the party did not have an in-charge following the death of former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in the Air India Flight 171 crash on June 12, 2025.The Tribune had exclusively reported on June 30 that Poonia was set to become the BJP’s Punjab in-charge.Poonia was given the task of strengthening the Punjab BJP organisation three months ago.He is also the BJP’s in-charge for Haryana and was at the helm when the party scored a hat-trick in the state in 2024 by winning the Assembly elections.Poonia, a former Rajasthan BJP president, will work in Punjab with Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who has been tasked with OBC outreach.The BJP is expected to retry the Haryana winning model in Punjab by improving outreach to the politically influential Jat Sikhs and boosting OBC and Dalit outreach.Poonia was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan and is himself a Jat.