NRP Desk
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sent a shortlist of six names-two Brahmins, two from the backward community and two from the Dalit community, all men to the national leadership that is set to pick the next chief of the state unit, a senior party leader said on Friday. India’s most populous state is set to go to the polls in early 2027 and the choice of the state unit chief is considered among the key decisions in front of the BJP, which will look to reverse its Lok Sabha setback in the state and secure a third consecutive term in Lucknow. The BJP, which has already picked state chiefs in over 25 of 37 organisational units, is also gearing up to name its next national president. The new state chief will replace Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, a Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh whose name is not in the shortlist, said the BJP leader. The names suggested include former deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma and former Basti MP Harish Dwivedi (both Brahmins), sitting UP minister Dharampal Singh and sitting Union minister of state BL Verma (both OBCs), and former Union minister Ram Shankar Katheria and sitting MLC Vidya Sagar Sonkar (both Dalits).
