All roads lead to state BJP office in Lucknow, suspense ends at last moment
All speculation was put to rest when Pankaj Chaudhary arrived at the party office and was escorted to the nomination room by party leaders.
All roads leading to the state BJP office here were jam-packed with SUVs as party leaders started arriving as early as 9.30am on Saturday to witness the filing of nomination papers for the organisation’s new state president. Among the early arrivals were deputy chief ministers Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya.
By 10.30 am, the entire BJP office was packed with party leaders and media persons. Though Union minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary’s name was in circulation, till then no one was able to say with conviction who will be the next state BJP chief.
When Maurya went inside the nomination room, people also started talking about his name for the top post.
Former Union minister and ex-Amethi MP Smriti Irani was the first to arrive at the BJP office from New Delhi.
Pathak received the party’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde when he arrived at the venue around 1.40pm from New Delhi.
Thereafter, chief minister Yogi Adityanath reached the party office and was greeted with slogans of Jai Shri Ram.
When Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti emerged on the scene, media persons rushed towards her, assuming she was the chosen one for the post. However, Jyoti clarified she was a proposer for the official candidate.
All speculation was put to rest when Pankaj Chaudhary arrived at the party office and was escorted to the nomination room by party leaders.
In the presence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who was among 10 proposers, Pankaj Chaudhary filed nomination papers, the sole candidate to do so. The announcement of his name as the next state party chief is just a formality.
Former Union minister Mahendra Pandey, who is the state election officer for the BJP’s organisational polls, received the nomination papers.
Union minister for commerce and industry Piyush Goyal will formally announce the name of the new state BJP president on Sunday.
YOGI, DEPUTY CMs AMONG 10 PROPOSERS DRAWN FROM ALL CASTE GROUPS
The BJP leadership made it a point to include Pankaj Chaudhary’s proposers from all caste groups – Thakur, Brahmin, Bhumihar, OBC and Dalit – to convey a message of unanimity.
The proposers included chief minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy CMs Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya, Smriti Irani, Surya Pratap Shahi, Swatentra Dev Singh, Dara Singh Chauhan, AK Sharma, Kamlesh Paswan and Aseem Arun.
The selection of proposers reflects an attempt to balance caste equations, a crucial factor in Uttar Pradesh politics.
