Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary: New UP BJP chief ticks right boxes for party; Jat leader from western UP

Hailing from the western UP district of Moradabad, Chaudhary, 54, is Panchayati Raj minister in Yogi Adityanath Cabinet. He is also a two-term member of the UP Legislative Council. During the recent byelection to the Rampur Lok Sabha, which the BJP wrested from SP, Chaudhary had worked as party in-charge for the constituency.

Born in a family of farmers, Chaudhary joined the VHP in 1989. He joined the BJP in 1991, at the height of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, and became the party’s Moradabad district president in 1998. In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, BJP fielded him from Sambhal, which he lost to Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

He served as the party’s western UP president until 2017, and joined the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet as Minister of Panchayati Raj with independent charge. In 2019, he was elevated as Cabinet minister. Sources say he retained his portfolio – one of only two ministers to do so – on the back of his performance as minister between 2017 and 2019, when over 1.75 crore toilets were built in rural areas of UP and all the districts were declared Open Defecation Free.

Party sources said the choice of Chaudhary for the top party post also serves to strike a regional balance between the government and the party organisation.

While Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (an upper-caste Thakur) is from Gorakhpur in eastern UP; Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya (OBC) is from Prayagraj, also eastern UP; and another Deputy CM, Brajesh Pathak (Brahmin), is an MLA from central UP. With Chaudhary’s appointment, the BJP has given a big representation to Jats and western UP in the organisation of the “ruling party”.

“The larger message is directed at Jats – that only the BJP can give them due regard. Chaudhary’s appointment comes only a few weeks after Jagdeep Dhankhar, another Jat leader, was elected as Vice-President. The message is clear for the Jat voters of Haryana, Rajasthan, western UP and parts of Delhi, where Jats are decision-makers in elections. Assembly polls are due in Rajasthan next year,” said a BJP leader.

The leader said the alliance between the SP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which came in the backdrop of the farmer agitation, caused considerable damage to the BJP in western UP in the 2022 Assembly elections.

“Apprehending that their alliance may continue in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well, the party had to take some steps to win back the trust of Jats, who supported the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,” said the party leader.

While Chaudhary and his predecessor Singh are both OBCs, the latter is an OBC (Kurmi) from the Bundelkhand region. To retain the support of the Kurmis, who are in Bundelkhand and eastern UP, the BJP will hope to cash in its existing alliance with the Apna Dal (Sonelal) that claims to represent the community.

Singh’s resignation had been followed by intense speculation over the names of various OBC, Brahmin and Dalit leaders. Chaudhary’s name first came up when he was urgently called to Delhi from Azamgarh for a meeting with central leaders. Sources said Chaudhary’s name was considered for state president in 2019 too.