The BJP started inducting leaders from backward classes to boost its OBC outreach ahead of the 2027 assembly polls. Former BSP MP Arvind Chaudhary and ex-CBI deputy SP Anil Yadav joined the party recently. The BJP also plans to field many ministers and MLCs to beat anti-incumbency in the elections.
Arvind Chaudhary, a Kurmi leader from Basti, and Anil Yadav from Banda have joined the party ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections, as the BJP seeks to expand its support among backward communities.
Ahead of elections, BJP steps up OBC outreach
The BJP has started inducting leaders from backward classes in a move to step up its OBC outreach ahead of 2027 assembly polls. Recently, former Bahujan Samajwadi Party MP Arvind Chaudhary and ex-CBI deputy SP Anil Yadav joined the BJP. Chaudhury, who quit the BSP and joined SP in 2020, is a nephew of SP MP Ram Prasad Chaudhary. The BJP may field Chaudhury, a Kurmi, from a seat in Basti. His community is an influential OBC group in eastern and central UP. Yadav from Banda is seen as BJP's bid to reach out to Yadav community, a core base of SP. In 2022, Yadav was not given an SP ticket for Baberu seat. His entry underscores BJP's bid to attract people with professional and administrative backgrounds, besides political leaders from rival parties.
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Yogi may pick key MLCs to add weight to list
As part of its strategy for the next year's assembly elections, the BJP is learnt to be weighing the possibility of fielding a host of MLCs, including many ministers in the Adidyanath Yogi cabinet. The plan is to include prominent names in the candidates' list. The party is believed to have told all the prominent MLCs to stay poll-ready it starts the process of screening candidates for the crucial elections. Key MLCs who may hit the poll cauldron include deputy chief minister Keshav Maurya, and senior ministers AK Mishra, Swatantra Dev Singh, Bhupendra Chaudhury and Dara Singh Chauhan. The BJP is planning to drop some unpopular legislators to beat anti-incumbency. Yogi will play development card.
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Terror of Atiq, Mukhtar now hot stuff for films
The reign of terror of gangster-turned-politicians Atiq Ahmad and Mukhtar Ansari has ended, but the crimes of the mafia are now a hot film stuff. Actor and Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan will be seen taking on the screen on those mafia who once established their dominance in UP through terror. The Hindi crime thriller 'STF: Mission Mafia' is being shot in Gorakhpur to resurrect the life and times of those characters on silver screen. Kishan is playing an encounter specialist from the STF. The film will depict criminal networks of Atiq Ahmad and Mukhtar Ansari, and elimination of the gangters. The shooting of the film is expected to create work opportunities for local artists and technicians in Gorakhpur. Plans are afoot to shoot five other Bhojpuri films and web series in Gorakhpur.