Lucknow, Dec. 15 -- The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday formally appointed Union minister Pankaj Chaudhary as its new Uttar Pradesh president, drawing the curtains on months of intense speculation and signalling a clear political course correction ahead of crucial poll battles in 2026 and 2027. Union minister Piyush Goyal, the party's presidential poll-incharge for UP, made the announcement at a grand event in Lucknow, attended by all important leaders from the party and the government, including chief minister Yogi Adiyyanath, both deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, several ministers and former UP BJP chiefs, among others. The announcement followed slogans like 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram' with the huge auditorium filled to its capacity. Pankaj Chaudhary is the 15th individual to hold the post of the UP BJP president, although this will be the seventeenth election with Karaj Mishra having been elected thrice consecutively, the only leader to secure this position more than once. He is also the fourth Kurmi leader to lead the party in UP. Sunday's event was carefully choreographed as a show of unity. From the stage to the seating arrangements, the party left little to chance in conveying that Chaudhary's elevation enjoyed broad acceptance, an important message at a time when organisational cohesion is seen as crucial. Chaudhary, 61, had emerged as the sole nominee for the post a day earlier, making his election a foregone conclusion. Yet the BJP chose to turn the formal announcement into a high-profile celebration, underlining the political significance it attaches to the choice. A seven-time Lok Sabha MP from Maharajganj in eastern Uttar Pradesh and currently Union minister of state for finance, Chaudhary replaces Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, a Jat leader from western UP who was appointed state president in August 2022 amid the farmers' agitation. The shift from a Jat face in the west to a Kurmi leader from the east reflects a recalibration of the party's social and regional strategy. An influential OBC leader from the Kurmi community, Chaudhary brings with him a long political career that began in local body politics. An alumnus of Gorakhpur University, he entered public life as a corporator in 1989, later becoming deputy mayor of Gorakhpur, before moving to state and national politics. Over the years, he has defeated several entrenched regional heavyweights, building a reputation as a resilient and grounded leader. Within the party, Chaudhary is also regarded as being close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a perception that has only strengthened his standing in organisational circles. His elevation comes at a time when the BJP is keen to arrest signs of erosion in its non-Yadav OBC support base, particularly in eastern Uttar Pradesh, which contributed to its reduced Lok Sabha tally in the 2024 elections. Kurmis, who account for an estimated 7-8% of the state's population and are the second most influential OBC group after Yadavs, are concentrated largely in eastern UP. Party insiders acknowledge that a drift in Kurmi support hurt the BJP in several seats in the region during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. With the 2027 assembly elections and the 2026 panchayat polls approaching, the BJP's choice of Pankaj Chaudhary as state president is widely seen as a bid to rebuild its OBC coalition and present a united organisational front well ahead of the next high-stakes political battles....