Among a string of new appointments across states, the Bharatiya Janta Party on Monday appointed Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Bhupendra Chaudhary as the party's chief in the state. The announcement comes on the same day Tripura BJP vice-president Rajib Bhattacharjee, known to be close to former chief minister Biplab Deb, was appointed as the new president of the state unit.
Who is Bhupendra Chaudhary?
Bhupendra Chaudhary was born in 1966 in a family of Jat farmers in Western UP and studied till Class 12. He joined the BJP in 1991. He has been in charge of western UP from 2011-18 and is known to be close to Amit Shah. He contested elections against Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in 1999 from Sambhal and lost. It was the only time he contested elections. Chaudhary, who is known to work for local development, is also the state minister for Panchayati Raj.
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Chaudhary replaces Swatantra Dev Singh, an OBC leader from southern UP who has been made a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.
Jat consolidation
Ahead of the 2024 election, Chaudhary's appointment is being seen as the BJP's attempt to reach out to the influential Jat community, which was at the forefront of the year-long farmers' protest against the three contentious farm laws.
With the appointment of Chaudhary, also the state Minister for Panchayati Raj, Uttar Pradesh has become the third state where the BJP will be headed by a Jat leader, after O P Dhankar in Haryana and Satish Poonia in Rajasthan. As the chief minister hails from eastern Uttar Pradesh, the BJP also looks to strike a regional balance with the appointment of Chaudhary, who is from western Uttar Pradesh, as the party's state president.
(With inputs from PTI)
