Bhupendra Chaudhary appointed UP BJP chief

New Delhi/Lucknow: The BJP on Thursday appointed Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Bhupendra Chaudhary as the party's state chief, the choice being seen an attempt to counter the challenge posed by the SP-RLD combine in the western part of the state.

His appointment is also seen as the attempt to reach out to the influential Jat community, which was at the forefront of the year-long farmers' protest against the three contentious farm laws.

With the appointment of Chaudhary, also the state minister for Panchayati Raj, Uttar Pradesh has become the third state where the BJP will be headed by a Jat leader, after O P Dhankar in Haryana and Satish Poonia in Rajasthan.

He replaces Swatantra Dev Singh, who has been made a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hailed Chaudhary's appointment.

"Hearty congratulations and best wishes to senior and popular politician Shri Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary ji on becoming the president of @BJP4UP,"Adityanath said in a Hindi tweet.

"Undoubtedly, under your energetic leadership, the BJP will set new benchmarks of success in the state with the spirit of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, sabka prayas'," Adityanath said.

After being named the state BJP chief, Chaudhary said said he will take everyone along.

"I will try to achieve the target fixed for the 2024 polls under the leadership of Narendra Modi. We have fixed the target of winning all 80 seats in UP," Chaudhary told reporters about the Lok Sabha polls.

Replying to a question, he said there is no problem of coordination between the government and the organisation.

His appointment is being seen as an attempt to counter the Rashtriya Lok Dal and Samajwadi Party alliance in the western UP and influence Jat voters in the BJP's favour. Western UP has 29 Lok Sabha seats.

Chaudhary (54) is a resident of Mahendra Sikandarpur in Moradabad.

In initial days, he joined the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and became a member of the BJP in 1991. He held various posts, including that of the party treasurer and district president of the Moradabad district unit.

In 1999, he contested the Lok Sabha polls against the then Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav but lost.  He held the post of a BJP regional secretary and then became a regional president, the post he held till 2017.

He first reached the upper house of the state Assembly in 2016. He held the panchayati raj portfolio in the previous Yogi Adityanath government too.

As a minister, his achievements included making a record number of toilets under the Swachh Bharat Mission and getting all 75 UP districts declared open defecation free.