On December 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) surprised political leaders, observers, and pundits alike when it named 45-year-old Nitin Nabin as the party’s next chief.

Though named as “working president,” a position short of “president,” Nabin will lead the party once the current chief Jagat Prakash Nadda hands over the baton. Nadda’s formal three-year tenure ended in January 2023, but his tenure was repeatedly extended. Indeed, the extensions amounted to almost another full term for Nadda — something unprecedented in the BJP’s history.

Over the past year, there has been much speculation about Nadda’s successor. Nabin’s name never came up in these discussions.

The formal election for the party president’s post will likely be initiated toward the end of January or in February. No one else is expected to contest against Nabin.

The choice of Nabin for the BJP’s top post is surprising; he is little known beyond Bihar, his home state, where he currently serves as a minister in the BJP-backed Nitish Kumar government.

However, in another sense the selection fits a pattern. Over the past decade, Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, who is Modi’s closest aide, have picked relatively low-profile faces as their chief ministers in different states. The BJP has effectively clipped the wings of all their regional bigwigs.

In 2023, Mohan Yadav, a 58-year-old, third-term legislator, was chosen as the chief minister of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, snubbing the........

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