If Pankaj Chaudhary Becomes UP BJP President, He Will Be the Fourth from Kurmi Community: A Look at 45 Years of Party Leadership

Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to appoint a new president for its Uttar Pradesh unit on Sunday, with the formal announcement scheduled for 14 December. Party sources say the nomination process is currently underway in Lucknow and is expected to conclude by the afternoon. After scrutiny and possible withdrawal of nominations, it will be decided whether a formal election is required or if the president will be chosen unanimously.

Among the leading contenders, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, who belongs to the Kurmi community, has emerged as the frontrunner. If appointed, Chaudhary will become the fourth BJP state president from the Kurmi caste, a move widely seen as a strategic response to the Opposition’s PDA (Backward, Dalit, Minority) political narrative ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

Shift in Social Representation
Since the party’s formation in 1980, the BJP’s Uttar Pradesh unit was largely led by leaders from the Brahmin community until 2017. However, over the last decade, the party has increasingly promoted leaders from Other Backward Classes (OBCs), reflecting a significant shift in its political and social strategy.

Political analysts note that after the BJP’s recent electoral performance in Bihar, the party is once again recalibrating its caste equations in Uttar Pradesh to consolidate backward caste support during the upcoming election cycle.

45 Years, 17 Presidencies
In its 45-year organisational history, the BJP has appointed 15 individuals as UP state presidents, with 17 tenures in total. Kalraj Mishra remains the only leader to have served twice as state president.

So far, the party has appointed:

• Six Brahmin presidents
• Three Kurmi presidents
• One each from Lodhi, Maurya, Rajput, Bhumihar and Jat communities

The three Kurmi leaders who previously held the post—Om Prakash Singh, Vinay Katiyar and Swatantra Dev Singh—are credited with delivering major political successes for the party at different stages.

From Madhav Prasad Tripathi to Kalraj Mishra
The first BJP president in Uttar Pradesh was Madhav Prasad Tripathi, who served from 1980 to 1984, laying the foundation for the party’s organisational growth in the state.

He was succeeded by Kalyan Singh (1984–1990), a Lodhi leader who later became Chief Minister and played a crucial role in strengthening the BJP’s OBC political base.

Kalraj Mishra’s Longest Tenure
Kalraj Mishra served as state president from 1991 to 1997, the longest tenure in the party’s UP history. His period coincided with the intense Mandal vs Kamandal phase and the demolition of the disputed Babri structure in Ayodhya—events that reshaped state and national politics.

From Rajnath Singh to Vinay Katiyar
After Mishra, Rajnath Singh served as state president from 1997 to 2000, later becoming Chief Minister and a key national leader. He was followed briefly by Om Prakash Singh (2000), a Kurmi leader with a short but influential tenure.

The party later appointed Vinay Katiyar, another Kurmi leader and a prominent figure of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, as state president during the early 2000s.

Recent Leadership and Electoral Outcomes
Between 2016 and 2017, Keshav Prasad Maurya led the party to its historic Assembly victory in 2017. He was followed by Mahendra Nath Pandey, under whose leadership the BJP won 62 Lok Sabha seats in 2019.

From 2019 to 2022, Swatantra Dev Singh, also from the Kurmi community, guided the party to a second consecutive Assembly victory in 2022, despite a reduction in seat share.

In 2022, Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, a Jat leader, took charge. However, under his leadership, the BJP suffered a significant setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, winning only 33 seats in Uttar Pradesh, though the party later recovered partially by winning six of nine Assembly by-elections.

Strategic Importance of the Next Appointment
With the 2027 Assembly elections approaching, the appointment of the new UP BJP president is being viewed as a crucial organisational decision. Elevating a Kurmi leader like Pankaj Chaudhary could signal the party’s renewed focus on consolidating backward caste support while rebuilding its electoral momentum in the state.