Bhupendra Chaudhary Likely to be UP BJP Chief

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh minister Bhupendra Chaudhary is likely to be appointed the BJP’s state unit chief, sources in the party have said. The likely appointment of Chaudhary is seen as BJP’s attempt to reach out to the influential Jat community, which was at the forefront of the year-long farmers’ protest against the three contentious farm laws.

With Chaudhary’s appointment, Uttar Pradesh will become the third state where the BJP will be headed by a Jat leader, after O P Dhankar in Haryana and Satish Poonia in Rajasthan.

Chaudhary, the cabinet minister for Panchayati Raj in the state, met BJP president J P Nadda late on Wednesday evening, sources said. He will replace Swatantra Dev Singh, who has been made a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.

As the chief minister hails from eastern Uttar Pradesh, the BJP also looks to strike a regional balance with the appointment of Chaudhary, who is from western Uttar Pradesh, as the party’s state chief.