Lucknow, March 29 -- With the district-level elections having been completed more than a week ago, the BJP is now set to appoint its new Uttar Pradesh state president. The decision will play a crucial role in chalking out the party's strategy for the 2027 assembly elections and the civic polls immediately thereafter.

The key challenge for the BJP is, however, countering the opposition's caste mobilisation, particularly the Samajwadi Party's PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) formula.

A major question looming over the selection process is whether the BJP will appoint a Dalit leader as its state president-something that has probably never happened in U.P. since 1980 when Madhav Prasad Trivedi, an upper caste Brahmin, was elected the party'...