JOIN USWith eyes on Jat votes in western UP, BJP makes Bhupendra Singh state chief
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Uttar Pradesh minister Bhupendra Singh was appointed as the party’s state president on Thursday. It was said that the appointment was made keeping in mind the electorally influential ‘Jat’ community, from which Singh hailed, for the next general elections, as well as to lessen the impact of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
Singh would replace Swatantra Deo Singh, who was also a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.
Bhupendra Singh’s appointment was, reportedly, also intended to tame the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), which had been vocal in its criticism of the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state, in the ‘Jat’ dominated regions of Uttar Pradesh. RLD, on the other hand, had emerged as a challenge to the BJP in the March assembly polls in the state’s western regions.
Considered to be close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Bhupendra Singh as a probable candidate to be next UP BJP chief was a sudden occurrence. His name cropped up barely a couple of days back and he was immediately summoned to Delhi by the party high command for consultation on Wednesday.
Singh enjoyed considerable support among the Jat community, and was instrumental in ensuring a surprisingly impressive show by the saffron party in the Jat-dominated western districts of Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, and Shamli, among others.
Considered to be a firebrand saffron leader, Singh, during the recent assembly polls, had said that BJP would “force” the All India All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asauddin Owaisi to wear “janeu” (a sacred thread worn by Hindu men) and chant “Ram-Ram” if his party won the state assembly elections.