Lucknow, Dec. 14 -- Union minister of state for finance and Member of Parliament from Maharajganj, Pankaj Chaudhary, 61, is set to be the new president of the Bharatiya Janata Party unit in Uttar Pradesh. Chaudhary filed his nomination papers for the post during the organisational elections on Saturday, and is expected to be elected unopposed as no other leader staked claim to the post, people aware of the matter said. A formal announcement of Chaudhary's election is expected to be made on Sunday in the presence of Union minister Piyush Goyal, the party in charge for the organisational polls. In a post on X, Chaudhary said, "Upon arriving at Lucknow airport today, I received a warm welcome from the dedicated party workers. I express my heartfelt gratitude to all the workers for the affection and respect they showed me." A seven-time MP from Maharajganj in eastern UP, Chaudhary belongs to the Kurmi community. Chaudhary's nomination put an end to speculation over potential contenders to the post. Other names that were doing the rounds included Dinesh Sharma, Harish Dwivedi, Dharampal Singh, BL Verma, Rama Shankar Katheria, and Vidya Sagar Sonkar, two each from the upper castes, OBCs and SC, respectively. Besides the upcoming Panchayat polls, the state is due to face assembly elections in 2027. Chaudhary will succeed Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, a veteran Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh, who was appointed the state BJP president in August 2022.htc...