Why BJP has picked a Kurmi leader, Pankaj Chaudhary, to lead the party in Uttar Pradesh

Newly-appointed Uttar Pradesh BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary, who is also the Union minister of state for finance, owns a company that manufactures an Ayurvedic oil whose brand name means something that relieves the body and the mind.

A “Kurmi” (an electorally influential OBC community), Chaudhary has been appointed the party’s state unit chief to provide electoral relief to it in this politically crucial state, which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha and ruined the BJP’s electoral plans in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections — mainly due to the rival Samajwadi Party (SP)’s “PDA” (pichda, Dalit, alpsankhyak, or backward, Dalit, and minority) formula.

The BJP’s tally in the state in the 2024 polls declined to 33 from 62 in the 2019 elections. The SP, which could win only five seats in the 2019 polls, swept up 37 in 2024. The BJP even lost its traditional Ayodhya seat in 2024, causing it huge humiliation.

Overall, SP candidates fared better in several OBC-dominated seats in eastern UP.

A bruised BJP feels that Chaudhary, being a member of the Kurmi community, which has a sizeable presence in several eastern UP districts, could counter the SP’s “PDA” formula, especially in the state’s “Poorvanchal” region, where it commands a dominance in as many as 20 Lok Sabha seats.

After Sanotsh Gangwar’s appointment as the Governor of Jharkhand, the BJP was left with no senior Kurmi leader; Chaudhary’s anointment is expected to fill that gap.

Born on November 20, 1964, to a reputed industrial family, Chaudhary — a seven-time MP from the Maharajganj seat — completed his initial studies from a college in the neighbouring Gorakhpur town. He was also a student at Gorakhpur University.

Chaudhary and his family dominated the local body polls in the Maharajganj district. His elder brother, Pradeep Chaudhary, was the first chairman of the Maharajganj district panchayat, when it was formed. His mother was also a two-time chairperson of the district panchayat.

Chaudhary began his political career as a corporator in the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation (GMC) in 1989. He was also the deputy mayor of the GMC for a brief period. He became a member of the BJP’s Maharajganj district executive committee in 1990 and successfully contested the Lok Sabha poll from the Maharajganj seat in 1991.

Chaudhary was re-elected from the same seat in 1996 and 1998, but lost to the SP candidate in 1999. He won back the seat in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. He, however, tasted defeat at the hands of the Congress’ Harshvardhan Singh in the 2009 polls.

Riding the Narendra Modi wave, Chaudhary emerged winner from Maharajganj again in 2014, and has been an MP from there since then. He was made a minister in 2019 and again in 2024.

Chaudhary is considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Modi even visited his residence during a Gorakhpur visit in 2023. Meanwhile, Shah heaped praise on Chaudhary during a public meeting in 2024.

Despite his proximity to the BJP high command, Chaudhary, according to party sources, faced opposition from within when his name was floated for the post of the state unit chief. A section of the party leaders, especially those from western UP, wanted someone from their region to be the state unit president.

They contended that currently, all top UP BJP functionaries hailed from Poorvanchal. Chief Minister Adityanath hails from Gorakhpur, and his two deputies — Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak — hail from the eastern UP and Avadh regions, respectively.

Chaudhary faces an arduous task of not only ensuring support of the Kurmi community but also carrying along the party leaders hailing from the western region.

Interestingly, the BJP’s alliance partner in UP, the Apna Dal (AD), was also a predominantly Kurmi outfit and has pockets of influence in the eastern UP districts of Varanasi, Mirzapur, Prayagraj, and Kaushambi. It will be interesting to see how the AD is going to view the saffron party’s efforts to make inroads into its core vote bank.

Chaudhary’s immediate test will be in the next Assembly polls in the state, which are due in 2027. He would also have to deal with unpredictable alliance partners like the Nishad Party and the Om Prakash Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party. Both Rajbhar and Nishad Party chief and UP minister Sanjay Nishad have already started upping the ante by demanding more seats in the next UP Assembly polls.

It remains to be seen if Chaudhary brings electoral relief to his party.