Kumar Bahukhandi
Pankaj Chaudhary, a seven-time Lok Sabha MP from Maharajganj and Union Minister of State for Finance, could be the next president of the UP BJP. (File Photo: PTI)
Lucknow (Uttar Pradelsh) : Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary is considered almost certain to become the next UP BJP chief. He is arriving in Lucknow on December 13, 2025 to file his nomination. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and Smriti Irani, among other senior leaders, will be his proposers.
Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Pankaj Chaudhary is highly likely to become the next president of the Uttar Pradesh BJP. According to party sources, his unopposed election is almost certain. He will arrive in Lucknow this afternoon on an Air India flight to file his nomination. He will proceed directly from Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport in Lucknow to the BJP office, where he will file his nomination for the state president’s post. A large number of his supporters from Maharajganj district are already present at both the Lucknow airport and the party office.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, former Union Minister and MP Smriti Irani, and UP government ministers Swatantra Dev Singh, Surya Pratap Shahi, Suresh Khanna, and Baby Rani Maurya will be the proposers for Pankaj Chaudhary. If only one nomination is filed, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may finalise Pankaj Chaudhary’s name as its UP state president today itself.
Although some other names, including Union Minister of State B.L. Verma and former MP Niranjan Jyoti, were earlier considered to be in the running for the UP BJP president’s post, sources say that the possibility of alternative nominations now appears limited.
The formal announcement of the new Uttar Pradesh BJP president is likely to be made on Sunday afternoon at a party event in Lucknow, where the names of national council members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, are also expected to be announced.
The BJP has maintained suspense regarding this appointment. According to sources, the party has already decided to appoint an OBC leader as the state president, in line with its broader political strategy in Uttar Pradesh.
Pankaj Chaudhary, a seven-time Lok Sabha MP from Maharajganj and a leader of the OBC Kurmi community, is being seen by the BJP as a crucial choice to address the upcoming political challenges in UP.
The BJP faced significant discontent among the OBC vote bank, particularly the Kurmi community, during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and the selection of the new state president is being seen as an attempt to address that discontent. If Pankaj Chaudhary is elected as the new UP BJP president, both the Chief Minister and the state president will hail from neighboring districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh – Gorakhpur and Maharajganj.
