BJP president J.P. Nadda on Tuesday evening appointed Ram Madhav as the party election in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir, marking a return of the high-profile RSS leader to the political mainstream.

Madhav was shunted from the BJP three years ago amid reports of sharp differences with then party chief Amit Shah. His return shows the RSS’s growing influence after the Lok Sabha results that has shorn the BJP of single-party majority.

Madhav, however, has not been given a free hand as Union minister G. Kishan Reddy, seen close to Shah, was jointly named in-charge of the elections. “BJP president J.P. Nadda has appointed former general secretary Ram Madhav and central minister G. Kishan Reddy as the election in-charge of Jammu and Kashmir for the upcoming Assembly elections,” a notification by the BJP said.

Madhav was the party minder for the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state and also the northeastern states before he was unceremoniously edged out. After his exit from the BJP, the RSS rehabilitated him in its central council.

Madhav in 2014-15 was credited with having helped stitch the unlikely BJP-PDP alliance to form the government. The alliance, however, fell through later.