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Pankaj Chaudhary named UP BJP president: 6 things to know about party’s new Kurmi face
Pankaj Chaudhary became the 15th state president of the saffron party and fourth Kurmi leader to lead BJP in Uttar Pradesh
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday appointed Union minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary as its next Uttar Pradesh president, effectively ending months of speculation over the crucial organisational post. He became the 15th president of the saffron party and fourth Kurmi leader to lead the party in the state.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, along with senior BJP leaders, attended Chaudhary’s nomination ceremony held during the party’s “Sangathan Parv” at the BJP state headquarters in Lucknow.
Chaudhary emerged as the sole candidate to file his nomination on Saturday, making his elevation a foregone conclusion, even as formal procedures were completed today.
Several names that had been under consideration for months — shortlisted by the state leadership and forwarded to the party’s central leadership — were eventually ruled out, with the BJP zeroing in on Chaudhary, a seven-time Member of Parliament from Maharajganj and a prominent OBC leader from eastern Uttar Pradesh.
Who is Pankaj Chaudhary: 6 key points
- Chaudhary, 61, belongs to the influential Kurmi community, one of the most dominant Other Backward Class (OBC) groups in the state.
- The BJP’s leadership calculus appears to have shifted since 2022, when the party chose a Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh amid the farmers’ agitation. This time, the decision is seen as being shaped by the party’s electoral setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, particularly in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and by concerns over the road ahead to the assembly elections scheduled for early 2027 as well as the three-tier panchayat polls due in the middle of next year. Against this backdrop, the party has turned to an OBC Kurmi leader from eastern Uttar Pradesh.
- 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. During his political career, he has defeated leaders such as Hari Shankar Tiwari, Virendra Shahi, Akhilesh Singh and Harshvardhan Singh.
- He is currently serving as minister of state for finance in the Modi government and has had a long political career marked by victories over several political heavyweights.
- A seven-time MP from Maharajganj in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Chaudhary is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This was evident during the centenary celebrations of the Gita Press in Gorakhpur on July 7, 2023, when the prime minister, without a prior schedule, visited Chaudhary’s residence.
- As the lane leading to Chaudhary’s house in Harivansh Gali near Ghantaghar in Gorakhpur is narrow, the prime minister’s vehicle stopped around 200 metres away. From there, Modi, accompanied by Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, walked to Chaudhary’s home.
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.
(With inputs from Brajendra K Parashar, Pawan Dixit)
