B.S. Yeddyurappa, Vijay Sampla and Keshav Prasad Maurya appointed as the new chiefs of the Karnataka, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh units respectively, of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
After much speculation, the BJP has finally named Lingayat leader BS Yeddyurappa as the Karnataka state president.
Yeddyurappa is former chief minister of Karnataka and is currently the national vice president of the BJP.
Union Minister Vijay Sampla, BJP’s Dalit face from Punjab, was today appointed as party’s state unit chief.
Keshav Prasad Maurya elected as the new party chief in Uttar Pradesh.
Maurya has won the Indian general elections, 2014 from the Phulpur (Lok Sabha constituency). On 11 January 2016, 12 BJP party leaders were expelled from the party for attacking Maurya one week earlier in Ballia, and two other cases were filed against two more BJP leaders.
BJP has banked on 55-year-old Sampla, who comes from a humble background and risen in the party over the years, to consolidate Dalit voters in the state which goes to the polls early next year and where the community constitute over 32 per cent of voters.
Yeddyurappa became the frontrunner to take up the post of the party’s Karnataka unit after the Supreme Court last year declined to intervene and revoke a Karnataka High Court order putting on hold his prosecution in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The name of former cricketer and BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu was also being considered for the post. Sources said Sidhu declined the offer.
Punjab will be going to polls next year to elect its new assembly.
(With Agencies input)