Finance MoS Pankaj Chaudhry set to be BJP’s UP chief

Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhry is all set to become the BJP president in the politically significant state of Uttar Pradesh.

On Saturday, the seven-time Lok Sabha MP became the only leader to file a nomination for the election to the post of BJP chief in UP. He completed the formalities in the presence of former Union Minister and BJP state election officer Mahendra Nath Pandey and central election observer and BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde.

Chaudhry will be formally announced as state chief on Sunday as he has no competitors. On Sunday, BJP election in-charge in UP and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is expected to declare Chaudhry elected.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh were also present for Chaudhry’s paper filing in Lucknow on Saturday.

Chaudhary has represented UP’s Maharajganj parliamentary seat seven times and is a prominent member of the Kurmi community, a listed OBC community.

BJP has earlier appointed the following Kurmi leaders as state presidents — former MP Vinay Katiyar, former minister Om Prakash Singh and Swatantra Dev Singh.

Sources said that with the election of UP BJP president, decks have more or less been cleared for the election to the post of ne