LUCKNOW: With the opposition camp getting a shot in the arm by the return of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s return to the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) fold, the ruling BJP has got the ball rolling for the organisation reshuffle in Uttar Pradesh, politically the most crucial in the country, with the appointment of Dharampal Singh as general secretary (organisation) replacing Sunil Bansal.
Bansal has been elevated as party’s national general secretary and in-charge of three states —- Odisha, West Bengal and Telangana.
The BJP high command is now expected to announce the name of state chief of the party in UP any time now as Swatantra Dev Singh, who led the party into 2022 Assembly elections, had quit as BJP state chief on July 27 after completion of his tenure. He was appointed to the post of UP BJP president in July 2019.
Dharampal Singh, a Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) pracharak and other backward classes (OBC) leader, belongs to Bijnor in western UP. Having an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) background, Dharampal has got enormous responsibility on his shoulders as the ruling party would seek to clinch a hat-trick at Centre by putting up an impressive show in UP with 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.
Dharampal has held positions of regional general secretary (organisation) in UP and Uttarakhand and organisational secretary positions in Uttarakhand, Braj and west UP regions. “He was associated with the 2020 Bihar assembly elections and the 2021 Assam Vidhan Sabha polls in which the BJP had emerged victorious,” said a senior BJP leader.
The role of mahamantri sangathan or the state general secretary (organisation) is significant as the post holders are RSS pracharaks who get appointed in the BJP and play the role of a bridge between the Sangh and the government.
However, the recent developments, including the appointment of Dharampal Singh as UP general secretary (organisation) and that of Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya as leader of house in Vidhan Parishad, point at BJP’s OBC focus.
Since 2014, the BJP has been contesting the Lok Sabha election in UP under an upper caste state chief with Laxmikant Bajpai in 2014 and Mahendra Nath Pandey in 2019. However, it preferred an OBC chief for Assembly polls with Keshav Prasad Maurya in 2017 and Swatantra Dev Singh in 2022.
As per the informed sources of the BJP, a couple of union ministers of state are said to be in contention for the state chief’s post.
The announcement of the name of new state chief would be followed by appointments of state and district level party functionaries to get the party war ready for Mission 2024.