BJP’s new UP faces: What they mean for Yogi Adityanath going into 2027

In the wake of the ruling BJP’s setback in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, several party leaders had flagged “disappointment among BJP workers because of neglect” by the state administration as one of the factors for its poor performance, while some others had blamed the central leadership’s “dominance” in candidate selection for it.Against that background, BJP national president Nitin Nabin recently constituted a new team of central party office-bearers, giving increased representation to UP leaders in it, including those who have lost previous elections. This is being seen in UP BJP circles as part of the party high command’s efforts to improve coordination and synergy between the central and state units in order to smoothen the party’s roadmap for the state Assembly elections slated for early 2027. The eight from UP Nabin’s new team has eight BJP faces from UP – one more than the previous team – with two representatives each in the groups of vice-presidents, general secretaries and secretaries, besides presidents of two morchas – OBC and minorities. “Four of these eight leaders faced defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2022 UP Assembly elections. Their elevation cannot be called a challenge to the popularity of CM Yogi Adityanath, who has been running the UP government with special focus on law and order for two consecutive terms since 2017. Instead, those leaders will be able to give more time for organisational work in the state. The ultimate goal of both Yogi ji and BJP leadership is winning 2027 Assembly polls and creating a favourable atmosphere for the 2029 Lok Sabha polls,” said a BJP leader close to Adityanath. He said that Rekha Verma, who retained the national vice-president’s position, had lost the Lok Sabha election from Dhaurahra, while new general secretary Smriti Irani had lost her Amethi parliamentary seat in 2024. He also pointed out that another general secretary Harish Dwivedi lost in Basti in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, while new OBC morcha president Amarpal Maurya faced defeat in Unchahar in the 2022 Assembly polls.

Another senior UP BJP leader said that barring the second-term national vice-president Tariq Mansoor, other seven office-bearers from the state are aged under 55 years, adding that this was as per the party’s plan of promoting younger leaders to enable it to connect with the youth and Gen Z more effectively. On the BJP’s decision to bring Smriti Irani back into its national leadership, a party leader said, “She is popular among women and youths; she is a good speaker and she has experience of defeating Rahul Gandhi in his bastion Amethi. She can be a good leader to challenge Rahul and another top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who are likely to lead the UP campaign for the party.” On Harish Dwivedi’s appointment as a new national general secretary, a BJP leader said, “Dwivedi is a Brahmin and an active leader with ABVP background. His appointment holds importance amid reports that there was simmering anger among sections of upper castes over the new UGC regulations stayed by the Supreme Court. It is known within the party that Dwivedi’s relations with CM Adityanath had never been very friendly, but as a young Brahmin face and with his experience of being Assam BJP in-charge and as the current in-charge of the upcoming Rajasthan local body polls – he will be helpful for the party in UP polls.”

Dwivedi was a two-term MP from Basti adjoining Adityanath’s home turf Gorakhpur, before losing from his seat in the 2024 election. Both Rekha Verma, an OBC leader, and Tariq Mansoor, a Pasmanda Muslim, who have retained their vice-president posts, are known for their “non-interference” in the affairs of the UP BJP or the state government, party insiders said. “Mansoor is an influential voice within the Muslim community given his stature as a former AMU vice-chancellor. By retaining him in the organisation and appointing UP’s Kunwar Basit Ali as Minority Morcha president, the party has tried to strike a balance with Muslims who are largely upset because of bulldozer actions in the BJP-ruled states despite getting benefits of all the welfare schemes,” said a party leader. Basit Ali has frequently shared his photographs with CM Adityanath on social media. Bhola Singh, a three-term Dalit MP from Bulandshahr, and Sangeeta Yadav, a Rajya Sabha MP and former MLA from Chauri-Chaura in Gorakhpur, who have been appointed as secretaries, are essentially known as leaders confined to their respective constituencies. BJP sources said that while Sangeeta Yadav has her parental home in Gorakhpur, she is not a regular visitor to the region. “But by elevating her in the national team, the party has intensified efforts to reach out to Yadavs, that is Samajwadi Party (SP)’s traditional vote base,” said a leader. Sources said that Amarpal Maurya has been “focused on organisational work rather than trying to come close to the people in power”. “Maurya has a bigger responsibility of working among OBCs, especially among the Kushwaha, Shakya, Saini and Maurya groups who have decisive presence in UP, Haryana, Bihar, etc. But his appointment is more important for UP because the SP is trying to woo these non-Yadav caste groups now,” said the leader.

A BJP insider said that with these appointments, the party leadership has sought to dismiss allegations like those made by SP president Akhilesh Yadav that “engines of BJP’s double-engine government are colliding with each other in UP”. The appointment of BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde as new in-charge of the UP unit ahead of the polls is being seen as a bid to boost coordination between the party organisation and the state government. Tawde has experience of handling the Bihar elections. Tawde is familiar with the UP BJP organisation too, as in April this year he had held a series of high-level meetings with state president Pankaj Chaudhary and several party and government functionaries including Cabinet ministers. Nabin has named the new national secretary from Gujarat, Jagdish Patel, as the party’s co-incharge for UP. Patel, known to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been looking after his Varanasi constituency office following the death of former UP co-incharge late Sunil Oza in December 2023. “Patel is likely to take care of Kashi region for the BJP till 2029 Lok Sabha elections,” said a BJP leader from Varanasi. UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, “Party workers are enthusiastic about UP getting bigger representation in the national team. The new office-bearers from UP will have more responsibility towards UP and it will be a task for them that BJP gets good results in their home state. Their experience of working in other states as national leaders will be useful in UP polls. These appointments will be a booster in UP polls.”