BJP announces new team in Uttar Pradesh, targeting OBCs

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. File Image | Photo credit: The Hindu

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday (June 25, 2026) announced new office bearers for its state unit in the Uttar Pradesh unit ahead of the 2027 assembly elections.

The new team announced by State BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary consists of 64 members, including 19 vice-presidents and eight general secretaries, besides 19 secretaries and six regional presidents.

Also read | SP-Congress alliance to continue, focus on victory, not seats: Akhilesh Yadav

In the new list of office bearers, the saffron party has targeted Other Backward Classes (OBCs) outside of Yadav with more than 25 members hailing from social segments considered crucial to the BJP’s success.

Among the prominent names, Neeraj Singh, who is the son of Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, was appointed as the Vice President; similarly, Puja Pal, an MLA who won the 2022 assembly elections on a Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket, also became the vice president. Suresh Rana, a former state minister and MLA, is appointed as the vice-chairman.

Other prominent names include Yatendra Sharma, a former journalist, who has been appointed secretary, and Geeta Shakya, a leading face of the OBC party, has been given the post of general secretary. Ankur Sharma, who is considered to be close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has been appointed as the secretary of the state unit.

The upper castes, considered the party’s core voting bloc, won roughly 35% representation in the new team, down from last time.

Leaders hailing from the Rajbhar, Bind, Gurjar, Saini community also got representation in the new team, signaling a wider OBC playing field for the BJP. Of the seven general secretaries, three belong to OBC social groups. Rampratap Singh Chauhan from the Rajput community, Abhijat Mishra, a Brahmin and Sanjay Rai from the Bhumihar community are appointed as general secretary. The new team consists of young faces with leaders mostly under 50 years of age.

“The BJP is a democratic party. Our state team, which is balanced with respect to the larger geography and social dynamics of UP, will lead the campaign going into the 2027 assembly elections. Under the leadership of the new state president, the team will ensure that the BJP gets an overwhelming majority in the assembly elections, first work on the idea of a common nation, he said first, and take over a people-oriented government with a dual path to the development of Rashe politics. BJP based in Lucknow.

Asad Rizvi, a Lucknow-based political analyst, said the BJP’s focus on OBCs is natural given the PDA (Pichre, Dalit, Alpashankhak) of its arch-rival, the Samajwadi Party. “If you look at the new team, the number of non-Yadav OBCs has increased compared to last time. There are around 25 social segment leaders in this team, there were 18 in the last team. As the main opposition party, SP is pushing for a wider share of OBCs and Dalits in its favor by pushing the PDA stuff into the organizational chart and the BJP is continuously giving a bigger organizational chart. Upper caste numbers have come down because BJP realizes that with aggressive PDA, its higher caste will naturally support in large numbers,” Mr. Rizvi said.

The new list comes after meetings in New Delhi and Lucknow with top party leaders to discuss caste and regional balances in the poll year. Senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde held several rounds of talks with state officials in Lucknow.

Published – 25 Jun 2026 14:41 IST