In UP team rejig, BJP balances caste, regional equations, keeps focus on OBC, women leaders

The new UP BJP office-bearers include nine Brahmins, seven Thakurs and seven leaders belonging to other upper castes including Vaishya, Bhumihar and Khatri.

Constituting the state BJP team, Chaudhary retained 32 leaders from the outgoing one constituted by his predecessor Swatantra Dev Singh, bringing in nine new faces and elevating four functionaries to senior positions.

The 13 OBC leaders represent different backward sub-castes including Gujjar, Jat, Saini, Kurmi, Maurya, Yadav, Lodhi, Lonia and Nishad. These OBC communities predominantly inhabit various regions across the state. Among them, the Gujjar, Jat, Saini communities are mainly spread in western UP, Kurmis, Lonias and Nishads in central and eastern UP, and Lodhis in Bundelkhand region and in the districts around Aligarh and Bulandshahr.

The ruling saffron party has also sought to strike a regional balance in its list of state office-bearers: It has named 13 functionaries from western UP, 12 from eastern UP, and 10 from central UP. Among the districts, the highest number of functionaries are from Lucknow (6) followed by Kanpur (5). There are three each from Agra and Varanasi districts.

“By giving importance to OBCs and SCs in the UP team, the BJP has given a signal that it wants to strengthen support of these castes ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” said a BJP leader.

The BJP constituted its UP team about seven months after Chaudhary’s appointment as its chief as the party did not apparently feel its urgency even though it has been keeping a close watch on the moves of its political rivals, the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), on issues like the caste census and Ramcharitmanas row.

“By creating a row over certain verses of Ramcharitmanas and later demanding caste census in the state, SP has tried to woo OBC and Dalit voters. BSP which claims to have strong vote base of Dalits, too, later said that it is a strong supporter of caste census. Such Opposition strategies put the BJP in a wait-and-watch mode, which asked party leaders to refrain from commenting on sensitive issues like caste census,” said a BJP leader. The SP is still running a campaign across the state to demand the caste census.

The revamped UP BJP team includes 18 vice-presidents, seven general secretaries and 16 secretaries along with one treasurer, one co-treasurer, one party headquarters in-charge and one in-charge of the party’s cells and departments. Five of 18 vice-presidents and three of seven general secretaries are OBC leaders. Also, among the nine new faces, there are three Thakurs, one Brahmin, two from other upper castes, two OBCs and one Dalit.

The list includes 11 women leaders, with a BJP leader pointing out that it was one of the highest representations given to women in the state party team.

Interestingly, the number of OBC and women leaders in the outgoing 45-member state BJP team was also, respectively, 13 and 11.

UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, “The new team has representations of all the castes and sections of society. It is a balanced team.” On the representation given in it to the OBCs and the SCs, Tripathi claimed that all the caste groups supported the BJP and that the Opposition’s campaigns on the caste census and other OBC issues would “fail to make any impact”.

The BJP also changed the presidents of all six regional units in the state. Among the new appointees there, the chiefs in three regions — Kanpur-Bundelkhand, Kashi and Braj — belong to the OBC communities.