The Bharatiya Janata Party is planning to target women and the extremely disadvantaged in the upcoming Assembly elections, following a strategy that worked well in West Bengal. Brahmin, Jat, Gurjar, Lodh, Paswan, and other severely backward caste groups now have a voice in state administration thanks to the party’s recent social reset in the state, which also happens to have the highest number of Lok Sabha MPs.
Former BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhury and Samajwadi Party dissident Manoj Pandey were appointed to the Council of Ministers by the Yogi Adityanath administration in what may have been its final Cabinet reset prior to the Assembly polls. With this promotion, Ajit Pal Singh and Somendra Tomar are now ministers of state with independent charge, two positions previously held by state ministers. It was also during this ceremony that four new ministers from the state were sworn in: Krishna Paswan, Surendra Diler, Hansraj Vishwakarma, and Kailash Rajput.
The BJP in Uttar Pradesh has expanded its cabinet in an effort to appease disgruntled caste members and defectors while also achieving some regional harmony.
Many believed that relations between Lucknow and Delhi were strained since the Cabinet enlargement was postponed for an extended period. However, insiders within the party denied the existence of any internal strife. According to them, the party’s attention was focused on the elections in West Bengal and Assam, which caused the delay. The Bharatiya Janata Party is planning to target women and the extremely disadvantaged in the upcoming Assembly elections, following a strategy that worked well in West Bengal. Brahmin, Jat, Gurjar, Lodh, Paswan, and other severely backward caste groups now have a voice in state administration thanks to the party’s recent social reset in the state, which also happens to have the highest number of Lok Sabha MPs.
Former BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhury and Samajwadi Party dissident Manoj Pandey were appointed to the Council of Ministers by the Yogi Adityanath administration in what may have been its final Cabinet reset prior to the Assembly polls. With this promotion, Ajit Pal Singh and Somendra Tomar are now ministers of state with independent charge, two positions previously held by state ministers. It was also during this ceremony that four new ministers from the state were sworn in: Krishna Paswan, Surendra Diler, Hansraj Vishwakarma, and Kailash Rajput.
The BJP in Uttar Pradesh has expanded its cabinet in an effort to appease disgruntled caste members and defectors while also achieving some regional harmony.
Many believed that relations between Lucknow and Delhi were strained since the Cabinet enlargement was postponed for an extended period. However, insiders within the party denied the existence of any internal strife. According to them, the party’s attention was focused on the elections in West Bengal and Assam, which caused the delay. By expanding the Cabinet, the Yogi Adityanath administration has reached out to various vote banks. Its inclusion of Manoj Pandey in the Cabinet was an attempt to appease the Brahmin vote bank.
Keeping prominent Brahmin figures like Manoj Pandey and Brijesh Pathak in the BJP cabinet is seen as a positive message by the party’s leadership. Problems like the UGC rules aggravated the caste group’s relationship with the BJP.
Like Somendra Tomar for the Gurjars, Krishna Paswan for the Dalit-Pasi, and Surendra Diler for the Valmiki, Bhupendra Chaudhary is being presented as the Jat representative of western UP. Other marginalised communities, such as the Lodh and Vishwakarma, are also highlighted.
The most important takeaway from the most recent expansion is that the BJP is steering clear of politics involving non-Yadav OBCs and instead concentrating on micro-social blocks.
Where the party fell short in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, it is now making up ground in these places. In 2024, Jat equations were unstable in Western UP, and a large portion of the Dalit vote went to Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati’s rival who used his personal development agenda to win over extremely disadvantaged populations. The party hopes to fix these problems with the expansion.
Image: The Indian Express
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