Desertion impact: OBCs dominate BJP's first UP list

Pushed on the backfoot following large scale desertions from its OBC leaders and fighting a perception that it had 'humiliated' leaders from the community, the BJP has included over 40 per cent OBC candidates in its first list of 105 nominees for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls which was released on Saturday.

As many as 44 candidates from the OBC community have found mention in the list, which also contains 19 candidates from the SC category and ten women.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath would be contesting from Gorakhpur City seat while his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya had been nominated from Sirathu assembly seat. The saffron party has denied renomination to one minister and 20 sitting MLAs.

Also Read | Yogi Adityanath to contest UP polls from Gorakhpur

BJP leadership had dropped hints earlier that it could deny renomination to more than 25 per cent sitting MLAs but it was forced to redraw its strategy after over a dozen senior OBC, Dalit and Brahmin leaders, including ministers, shifted allegiance and joined the rival Samajwadi Party (SP) in the past few days.

The first list has 18 candidates from 'thakurs' and ten candidates from the 'brahmin' communities.

Some of the prominent faces, who were denied tickets this time, included former UP BJP president Luxmikant Bajpai, Thakur Dalbir Singh, Rajesh Mishra, ex-India cricketer Chetan Chauhan's wife Sangita Chauhan, Uday Bhan Singh and Jitendra Verma.

A senior BJP leader said that the large number of OBC nominees in the list was clearly indicative of the impact of the mass desertions of the OBC leaders from the party. ''We needed to send a message that we are not anti-OBC,'' the leader told DH.

Several key OBC leaders, including ex-ministers Swami Prasad Maurya, Dharam Singh Saini and around a half a dozen MLAs from the community had resigned from the saffron party in the past few days and joined the SP.

Maurya, who was considered to be an influential OBC leader, especially in the eastern UP region, had claimed that Adityanath was 'anti-OBC' and 'anti-Dalit'. He had also claimed that Adityanath was in the habit of 'humiliating' the OBC MLAs and ministers and often made them sit on the 'stool' instead of chairs.

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