Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP on Saturday announced that Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal has been appointed as the election incharge for Tamil Nadu. He has also been entrusted with overseeing the election duties in Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. BJP MLA from Karnataka’s Chikkamagaluru, CT Ravi, has been made the co-incharge along with Goyal. The party made its statement on Saturday and had earlier revealed the names of election in charges in other states.
Along with the Union minister, others who have been given the role of election in-charge include Minister of Defence Nirmala Sitharaman for Delhi and Minister of Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda for Uttar Pradesh. Kalraj Mishra, former Minister of state of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, has been appointed as the in charge for Haryana while MP Avinash Rai Khanna has been appointed for Tripura as well as Jammu and Kashmir.
Several party leaders took to Twitter to express their delight over the appointments.
“I am honoured to be appointed by @BJP4India President Sri @AmitShah as the Co-Incharge of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andaman & Nicobar Islands for the 2019 General Elections. It's a privilege for me to work with Sri @PiyushGoyal. As a humble Karyakarta I will contribute my best,” CT Ravi tweeted.
@PiyushGoyal & @CTRavi_BJP Wishing you the very best & utmost success on being appointed as the Incharge & Co Incharge of all imp state of Tamilnadu & also Puducchery , Andaman & Nicobar .. Looking forward to working with you both .. @BJP4Puducherry @BJP4AnN @BJP4TamilNadu
— B L Santhosh (@blsanthosh) January 5, 2019
National joint secretary of the BJP BL Santhosh also congratulated the two on their appointments.
“@PiyushGoyal & @CTRavi_BJP Wishing you the very best & utmost success on being appointed as the Incharge & Co Incharge of all imp state of Tamilnadu & also Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar .. Looking forward to working with you both .. @BJP4Puducherry @BJP4AnN @BJP4TamilNadu,” he said on the social media platform.
I am honoured to be appointed by @BJP4India President Sri @AmitShah as the Co-Incharge of Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Andaman & Nicobar Islands for the 2019 General Elections.
— C T Ravi (@CTRavi_BJP) January 5, 2019
Its a privilege for me to work with Sri @PiyushGoyal. As a humble Karyakarta I will contribute my best.
Incidentally, in March 2016, Piyush Goyal, who was the MoS for Power then, had remarked that Tamil Nadu was the only part of the country where he could not reach out to the Chief Minister.
Speaking at the CII Young India meet in New Delhi, he slammed the then Jayalalithaa government and said he made repeated attempts to reach out to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
“I have made several attempts to contact leaders in the Jayalalithaa government. I have access to 28 states in this country, but for the 29th state when I want to talk to someone, I can’t. I call up and talk to the Power Minister of the state, and he says he will get back to me after he speaks with Amma,” he said.