Suspense over BJP's new Uttar Pradesh chief likely to end this weekend

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The suspense over the BJP's new Uttar Pradesh chief is likely to end this weekend, with the central leadership set to declare the name on Sunday, and the party insiders suggesting that the picture will become clearer by Saturday.

BJP state election officer and former Union minister Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey told PTI on Friday that the next state president of the party will be announced on Sunday by central election officer and Union minister Piyush Goyal.

Earlier, Pandey released the list of 425 members of the state council who are authorised to vote in the state president's election. He also released the timetable for the election process, according to which nominations for the state president and members of the national council will be filed on Saturday between 2 pm and 3 pm.

Scrutiny of nomination papers will take place on Saturday from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm, and withdrawals can be made between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm. If necessary, voting for the state president will be held on Sunday, and the state president and members of the national council will be announced on the same day.

Political experts say the election of the president in a large state like Uttar Pradesh will be held in view of the upcoming Panchayat elections and the 2027 Assembly elections, and the one with a strong hold on caste and regional equations may be crowned.

Speculations have begun regarding several names, but a senior BJP leader told PTI, "The central leadership's decision could be surprising. In any case, surprising decisions have always been made regarding state chief ministers and organisational leadership, so no claims can be made." However, according to the information filtering in from party sources and senior leaders, several new names have also emerged in the race for the state president. The most recent name to be discussed is Pankaj Chaudhary, Union Minister of State for Finance and a seventh-term MP from the Maharajganj parliamentary constituency. A member of the Kurmi caste, an Other Backward Class (OBC), he is considered a trusted confidante of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

The Kurmi community holds significant sway within the OBC community throughout Uttar Pradesh, and in the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2022 Assembly elections, they showed their inclination towards the state's main opposition party, the Samajwadi Party. However, several other names, including the name of former state president Swatantra Dev Singh, who also hails from the Kurmi community, is also being discussed.

In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has appointed leaders from the Kurmi community as state president three times, including former MP Vinay Katiyar, former minister Om Prakash Singh, and Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh.

UP government minister Dharampal Singh and Union Minister BL Verma, both from the Lodh community of the late prominent OBC leader Kalyan Singh, are also among the top contenders. This community, with its widespread support base in the state, has yet to get the position of UP BJP president.

Former Union minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, who hails from the fisherman (Nishad) community, and the party's Rajya Sabha member Baburam Nishad is also in the running.

The name of Deputy Chief Minister and former state president Keshav Prasad Maurya is also being discussed. Maurya's unbroken record, given that the BJP and its allies won 325 of the 403 seats in the 2017 Assembly elections during his tenure as state president, lends credence to his candidature.

Several names from the Brahmin community are also being discussed, including Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, BJP state general secretary Govind Narayan Shukla, former MP Harish Dwivedi, former deputy chief minister Dr Dinesh Sharma, and Vijay Bahadur Pathak.

Among Dalit leaders, former BJP general secretary Vidyasagar Sonkar, former MP Jugal Kishore, who left the BSP before 2017, and former MP Vinod Sonkar, among others, are considered to be in the race for the state president.

A state BJP official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, "All speculations are futile; only after nominations are filed for the president's post can anything be predicted." He added that the party will strive to ensure an unopposed election for the state president, but since the BJP prioritises democratic values, there will be no pressure.