Lucknow,

14 Dec (HS): Pankaj Chaudhary, Union Minister of State for Finance, was

declared the new president of the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit on Sunday, with

Union Minister Piyush Goyal formally announcing his election. Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh

Pathak were present when the announcement was made. On Saturday, Chaudhary

filed his nomination for the position, and he was the only contender. He turned in the documents to Mahendra Nath

Pandey, a former Union minister and BJP state election officer, and Vinod

Tawde, a central election observer. Adityanath,

his two deputies, and Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh were present when

the nomination was filed.

Started

his political journey as a councillor: Born on November 15, 1964, Pankaj

Chaudhary, the younger son of the late Gorakhpur industrialist Bhagwati

Chaudhary and former District Panchayat President Ujjwal Chaudhary, began his

political career as a councilor of the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation in 1989.

In 1990, he became a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party's District Working

Committee. He was elected as a Member of Parliament from the Maharajganj

parliamentary constituency on a BJP ticket in the 10th Lok Sabha in 1991. He

was elected as a Member of Parliament in the 11th and 12th Lok Sabhas in 1996

and 1998 respectvely. He lost to Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party in 1999

but was re-elected in 2004. He lost to the late Harsh Vardhan of the Congress

in 2009. He has been a member of the Lok Sabha continuously since 2014.

Chaudhary,

a seven-time Lok Sabha MP from the Maharajganj seat, is a member of the Kurmi

community, which is classified as Other Backward Classes. He is seen as a close

confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Defence

Minister Rajnath Singh.

His

strong hold within the Kurmi community and influence among other communities

has made him a powerful figure in UP politics. His strong hold within the Kurmi

community, along with his social engineering skills within other communities,

has convinced even his opponents. Since Maharajganj became a district after

separating from Gorakhpur, the BJP has dominated the district panchayat. His

brother Pradeep Chaudhary and mother Ujjwala Chaudhary have served as district

panchayat presidents. Even after reservation changes, his trusted associates

have been elected to this position, demonstrating the success of his political

strategy.

Birth

and background: Pankaj Chaudhary, a resident of Harivansh Gali, Sheikhpur,

Gorakhpur, was born on November 20, 1964, to Bhagwati Prasad Chaudhary. He is a

graduate of Gorakhpur University. His family includes his wife, Bhagyashree,

son, Rohan Chaudhary, and a daughter.

Hindusthan Samachar / Abhishek Awasthi