BJP hopes a Brahmin chief in UP can reverse slide

NEW DELHI: Faced with the daunting task of reclaiming its old support base in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is likely to settle for a Brahmin as the next state unit chief.

The present incumbent, Kesrinath Tripathi, himself a Brahmin, had resigned from his post in the wake of the BJP’s humiliating defeat in the assembly polls held earlier this year. Mr Tripathi himself lost his assembly seat, Allahabad (south), by a big margin to the BSP nominee.

With the BSP mounting an aggressive campaign to woo the upper castes, especially the Brahmins, the BJP is keen to rebuild the social coalition that made it a force to reckon with in the politically-crucial state in the early 1990s.

The Brahmins, numerically the strongest among all upper castes, are central to the BJP’s gameplan. It was against this backdrop that the party bosses decided to hand over the reins of the state to Arun Jaitley, who too is a Brhamin.

The party has now decided to continue with a Brahmin president in the state. This has also become essential in view of the fact that the BJP is headed at the national level by a Thakur (Rajnath Singh), and its legislature party leader in the state is a Kurmi (Om Prakash Singh).

In keeping with the delicate caste-balancing being effected in the state by the party leadership, it now wants to re-install a Brahmin as its most prominent face in Uttar Pradesh.

Among those in the reckoning for the post are Rajya Sabha member Kalraj Mishra, Ramapati Ram Tripathi, currently general secretary in the state, Vinod Pandey, who heads the kisan morcha at the national level, and Mahendra Nath Pandey, a former state minister.

Mr Mishra has been the state BJP president in the past while Mr Tripathi and Mr Pandey are considered to be close to Rajnath Singh.