‘Not here to rule, but to play my role’: New UP BJP chief stresses party unity, coordination
Pankaj Chaudhary says party workers ‘supreme’, underlining their contribution in fighting elections as the state gears up for Assembly polls in 2027
With Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh due in 2027, Chaudhary underlined the contribution of party workers in fighting the elections, and said they would be his topmost priority. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav) 
In his first address after being appointed the new UP BJP president, Pankaj Chaudhary on Sunday laid emphasis on the party’s unity, saying as a leader he would take everyone along to find solutions and improve coordination between the party and the government.
Speaking at an event in Lucknow, where his name was officially declared as the 17th UP BJP chief by party’s Central Election Observer and Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Chaudhary said, “Mujhe rule nahi karna hai, balki role ada karna hai… Ek samanvya-kari ka, samadhan-kari ka. Ek mukhiya jo sabko apne sath leke chalta hai (I do not want to rule, but will play the role… of one who coordinates, one who finds solutions, and the one who takes everyone along as a leader).”
Flanked by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and two deputy CMs, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, Chaudhary said, “I want to understand the word ‘leadership’ and emulate it. Does leadership mean giving instructions? For me, leadership is to listen to everyone with a big heart and try to find solutions.”
Chaudhary added that his leadership would be based on four “mantras” – “Sangathan, Samparka, Samvad aur Samanvaya” (Organisation, Connect, Communication and Coordination).
With Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh due in 2027, Chaudhary underlined the contribution of party workers in fighting the elections, and said they would be his topmost priority.
“From 1991 to 2004, I contested several elections with the help of party workers and would say the same to BJP workers now. Aap mere liye sarvopriya hain (For me, you are suprem),” the seven-time MP from Maharajganj told party workers, a day he filed his nomination papers for the election of the new UP BJP chief. Chaudhary was the sole nominee with CM Adityanath and several ministers and senior party leaders as his proposers.
“Will act as a link between you and the government for coordination. It will be my responsibility to ensure that your problems and issues reach the government, and at the same time, it will be our responsibility that the welfare schemes of our government reach the masses,” he said, and thanked both the party leadership as well as the RSS for giving him the new responsibility.
“Shirsha netritva ke saath, Sangh Parivar.. ke prati kritagya hun” (Along with the senior leadership of the party, I am grateful to the Sangh Parivar),” he said, and said that he was not only excited but also proud of his new role.
“I have been a seven-time MP from Maharajganj and have served as a Union minister several times, but the responsibility of state BJP president is the most significant I have received so far,” he said.
He said it was the BJP’s “internal democracy”, as against “dynastic politics”, that made it possible for an ordinary worker to rise to positions of responsibility.
Calling Chaudhary the “new captain” and “an experienced organisational worker”, Chief Minister Adityanath said that his election as the UP BJP chief would give fresh momentum to the party and the state government in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision.”
Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that under Chaudhary’s leadership, the BJP will take a pledge to get a bigger majority in the 2027 Assembly elections, even bigger than the 2017 elections, when the party had won 312 of the total 403 seats.
Chaudhary hails from the Kurmi community, the state’s most prominent non-Yadav Other Backward Class (OBC) group. He began his political career at the grassroots level in the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation in the late 1980s, before becoming the Gorakhpur Deputy Mayor in the early 1990s. His first foray into national politics came in 1991, when he won his debut Lok Sabha election from Maharajganj at the age of 27. Though he launched his career from Gorakhpur, Maharajganj has become his stronghold over the years as he won this parliamentary seat six more times – in 1996, 1998, 2004, 2019, and 2024.
In 2021, after a Union Cabinet reshuffle, Chaudhary was given a Minister of State berth in the Finance Ministry as one of the party’s key OBC leaders ahead of the 2022 UP Assembly elections. After he retained his seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, he was again inducted into Modi’s Cabinet.
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