Uttar Pradesh BJP is going to get a new state president today. The name of Union Minister of State Pankaj Chaudhary is going to be formally announced today. Actually, Pankaj Chaudhary, the only candidate in the nomination process for the post of UP BJP President, filed his nomination on Saturday. This cleared the way for Pankaj Chaudhary to be elected state president unopposed.
Pankaj Chaudhary is a seven-time MP from Maharajganj Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, and was made the Union Minister of State for Finance in the second Modi cabinet. He comes from Kurmi caste. Chaudhary’s political career began at the local level, when he served as a member of the Municipal Corporation in Gorakhpur from 1989 to 1991. During this time, he worked as the Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Corporation for one year. Later he was appointed Deputy Mayor of Gorakhpur.
At a time when BJP is busy preparing for the 2027 assembly elections, the responsibility of Pankaj Chaudhary becomes very important. Although his political experience has been long, he will face many big challenges as soon as he takes charge of the organization. Let us take a look at the five big challenges facing the new UP BJP President…
How will coordination be established between the government and the organization?
The first and biggest challenge before Pankaj Chaudhary will be to establish better coordination between the party organization and the Yogi Adityanath government. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, BJP got fewer seats than expected. In the internal assessment of the party, the lack of enthusiasm of the workers and lack of communication at the local level was considered to be the major reason. In many districts, BJP leaders and workers have been complaining that the administration is not paying attention to their problems. In such a situation, Pankaj Chaudhary will have to become a bridge between the government and the organization.
What is the challenge in creating regional balance?
The new president of UP BJP, Pankaj Chaudhary comes from Gorakhpur in Purvanchal. He is replacing Bhupendra Chaudhary, who was a Jat OBC leader from Western UP, on this post. The influence of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is continuously increasing in Western UP and it is also an ally of BJP. In such a situation, it will not be easy for Pankaj Chaudhary to take along the leaders and workers of Western UP and eliminate the perception of regional imbalance.
How will you pass two big exams?
The 2027 assembly elections will be the real test of Pankaj Chaudhary’s leadership. Before this, there are Panchayat elections of 2026, where there is always a possibility of dissatisfaction and rebellion regarding ticket distribution. It will be a big challenge for him to keep the large number of ticket claimants satisfied and maintain unity within the party. Along with this, it will also be his responsibility to handle any possible anti-incumbency against the Yogi government.
How to bridge the lack of organizational experience?
Pankaj Chaudhary has been a seven-time MP and has about 35 years of parliamentary experience, but his experience at the organizational level has been limited. He had not previously held any major organizational post at the state level. Like many senior leaders of BJP and RSS, his grassroots organizational network is not considered strong in the entire state. In such a situation, making direct connections with workers across the state will be a new challenge for them.
How will you counter Akhilesh’s PDA politics?
Pankaj Chaudhary comes from the Kurmi community, which is an important part of the OBC population of UP. BJP has adopted the strategy of challenging the PDA (Backward-Dalit-Minority) politics of Samajwadi Party by making him the president. But the votes of the Kurmi community have never been united in favor of any one party. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a large part of this community had gone towards the SP-Congress alliance. In such a situation, it will not be easy to turn the OBC vote bank in favor of BJP again.
Overall, Pankaj Chaudhary’s path is not easy. Experience and organizational balance, regional equations, election strategy and trust among the workers – he will have to prove himself on all these fronts. The coming two years will decide how strongly he can handle these challenges.
