BJP looks for new chief for its Uttar Pradesh unit

Lucknow: Now that the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is comfortably in the saddle, the BJP has started looking for a replacement for Keshav Maurya as state president.

Though Mr Maurya and others have been asked to remain in position till the presidential elections, the BJP feels that the appointment of the state BJP chief at the earliest would be beneficial for the party.

According to sources, the BJP wants the new state president from western UP since eastern UP is over-represented. Western UP remains completely unrepresented in the party and the government, to an extent. “Ideally, we would like a dalit to head the party organiation,” said a party functionary.

The name that is doing the rounds is that of Ram Shankar Katehria, MP from Agra and a former Union minister. Some other names doing the rounds include Laxman Acharya, Vinod Sonkar, Vidya Sagar Sonkar and Ram Naresh Rawat.