Pankaj Chaudhary named new UP BJP chief

Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was on Sunday named the new president of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit, with his election being formally announced by Union Minister Piyush Goyal in Kucknow. The announcement was made in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak. Chaudhary had filed his nomination for the post on Saturday and was the sole candidate in the fray. He submitted the papers to former Union minister and BJP state election officer Mahendra Nath Pandey and central election observer Vinod Tawde. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said Pankaj Chaudhary's election to the BJP's state president's post would give fresh momentum to the party and the government in the state.

An alumnus of Gorakhpur University, he began his public life in local politics, winning the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation election in 1989 and later becoming deputy mayor. He is set to succeed Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, a senior Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh, who was appointed state BJP president in August 2022 amid farmers’ protests in the region against the Centre’s now-repealed farm laws. A seven-time Lok Sabha MP from the Maharajganj constituency, Pankaj Chaudhary belongs to the Kurmi community, categorised under Other Backwards Classes (OBC).

Goyal also announced the names of the party's newly elected national council members, whose numbers ran up to 120, and included Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Modi represents Varanasi, while Yogi Adityanath represents Gorakhpur. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is from Lucknow, Maurya from Prayagraj, and Pathak from Unnao. Other members of the national council include Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary (Sambhal), Smriti Irani (Sultanpur), Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey (Varanasi), Surya Pratap Shahi (Salempur), Swatantra Dev Singh (Banda), and Dr Ramapati Ram Tripathi (Gorakhpur)