Pankaj Chaudhary At UP BJP Helm Has Caste Firewalls, Yogi-Delhi Tightrope, and 2027 Poll Minefield To Navigate

Lucknow, December 14 (TNA) Pankaj Chaudhary, the Union Minister of State for Finance, will be formally elected as the new Uttar Pradesh BJP president on Sunday following his nomination filing on December 13, 2025, with full backing from Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the party’s central leadership, positioning him as a key OBC Kurmi face from Maharajganj ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.

This seven-time MP steps into a high-stakes role amid the BJP’s need to counter the opposition’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) alliance that eroded its OBC support in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, requiring him to master social engineering by consolidating non-Yadav backwards without alienating Thakur or Brahmin factions that dominate the party’s upper echelons.

Chaudhary faces immediate organisational hurdles, including reviving booth-level cadre morale after recent bypoll losses and internal dissent, while executing aggressive membership drives and appointing district leaders to fend off worker fatigue.

Balancing Delhi’s high command strategies with Yogi’s governance style will test his autonomy, especially as perceptions of him as a “remote-controlled” figure from his ministerial perch could undermine local credibility.

The opposition onslaught from SP-Congress and BSP’s Dalit outreach demands swift counter-campaigns in eastern UP strongholds, coupled with damage control on defections or scandals to preserve the BJP’s 300-plus seat edge from 2022.