BJP to get new UP chief? Who are the probables for the crucial party post?

THither has been a growing bombilate o'er the Bharatiya Janata company (BJP) electing a young chief for its Uttar Pradesh unit, which was headed by Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary whose tenure ended earlier this year.The speculation come after the BJP selected Ramchander Rao as the new Telangana unit president, even as the process to elect a new party chief has picked up pace in the saffron camp.The party has delayed the election for a new UP president for several months. The delay has been attributed to the Delhi Assembly Elections, as the central leadership was busy with the polls in the national capital, where the saffron camp got a massive victory after 27 years.What to expect from the election of a new UP BJP chief?The election of a new party chief in Uttar Pradesh is believed to be just a formality, as the only the candidate finalised by the party's high command will file nomination.The BJP is likely to select a new chief from the Schedule Caste (SC), in a bid to counter the Samajwadi Party’s Pichda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak (PDA) formulation.Who are the frontrunners?Some of the frontrunners for the state doing the rounds are Vidya Sagar Sonkar and Ram Shankar Katheria, both from the SC category.Swatantra Dev Singh, Babu Ram Nishad and Dharampal Singh, belonging to the OBC category, are also among the frontrunners.If the party prefers an OBC leader for the top post, Swatantra Dev Singh is the frontrunner for the post, a senior BJP leader told Hindustan Times.Meanwhile, the central leadership has initiated the proceedings to complete the election process of state presidents of several states.National chief's selection after appointing UP presidentThe process to select the new national president is also picking up pace in the BJP camp. According to the BJP’s constitution, the party’s national president could only be elected after completing the election process of 50 percent of its state units.The term of BJP’s incumbent national president JP Nadda ended in January last year, but the national executive committee in January 2024 extended his term till June 2025 in view of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.Party insiders have suggested that the new UP chief will be selected keeping in view the upcoming assembly polls in 2027."The new state president is most likely to be from the SC category and the second option will be the OBC category," a senior BJP leader said."The new state president will be elected keeping in view the 2027 assembly polls in the state," he added. The party is going all out to regain the lost ground after its below-par showing in the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh last year.The party's poor performance in the state was attributed to the shifting of OBC and Dalit votes to the Samajwadi Party’s PDA formulation.The BJP has managed to keep its caste umbrella intact in the last four successive polls in Uttar Pradesh—2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha and 2017, 2022 assembly polls.The diverse representation includes non-Jatav Dalits, non-Yadav OBCs and upper castes.However, the SP’s PDA formulation succeeded in giving a dent to the BJP's vote share in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, when it succeeded in bringing a large chunk of OBC and Dalits into its fold.The BJP’s tally in Uttar Pradesh came down to 33 in the last Lok Sabha election from 62 in 2019.