Adesh Kumar Gupta replaces Manoj Tiwari as Delhi BJP President

New Delhi: Actor-politician Manoj Tiwari has been replaced as chief of the BJP in Delhi. Adesh Kumar Gupta will take over, the BJP said today.

Adesh Gupta is former North Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor.

Manoj Tiwari, who was appointed Delhi BJP president in 2016, was said to be on borrowed time since the party's disastrous performance in the Delhi assembly election.

Sources say he had offered to resign immediately after the Delhi defeat but was asked to continue until an alternative was found.

Mr Tiwari, a popular singer-actor from Bhojpuri films, was seen to have been unable to effectively counter the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) despite his street-fighting skills and non-stop sparring.

Recently, he had been in a controversy over violating lockdown norms to play cricket at an academy in neighbouring Haryana.