MoS Pankaj Chaudhary likely to be new UP BJP chief; CM, nine other leaders propose his name

LUCKNOW: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to get its party chief for the Uttar Pradesh unit on Sunday. The party organisation rolled out the process of appointment of the new state party president by inviting nominations from party leaders here on Saturday.The entire exercise was carried out in the presence of senior party leaders, including Union Minister Piyush Goel, the party’s national general secretary Vinod Tawde, UP election in-charge Mahendra Nath Pandey and UP CM Yogi Adityanath. Scrutiny of the nomination will be done on Saturday. The name of the new state president will be formally announced on SundayUnion Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary filed nomination papers, and his name was proposed by 10 senior BJP leaders, including UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. According to sources, Chaudhary is almost certain to get elected unopposed, as no other leader has filed nomination papers.However, a day ahead of the nomination process, BJP national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh arrived in Lucknow and met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. An organisational meeting was also held at CM’s residence on Friday night. Amid intense political activity, Union Minister Piyush Goel, appointed as the election officer by the party, arrived in Lucknow on Saturday along with central election observer Vinod Tawde, and Pankaj Chaudhary who is believed to be a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. While Pankaj Chaudhary was being considered as the front-runner for the post of UP BJP chief, the arrival of former Union Minister Sadhvi Nirajan Jyoti at the party office on Saturday morning added to the buzz of voting, as she is also being considered as a candidate. Moreover, the name of Union Minister BL Verma had also been doing the rounds for the post. Both the leaders were among the proposers of Pankaj Chaudhury’s name for the post.



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