(FE)
Former Union Minister Ram Shankar Katheria, who has stirred controversies in the past with his remarks, is likely to be the Bharatiya Janata Party’s next Uttar Pradesh chief, informed sources said. Sources in the BJP told IANS that Katheria’s name is learnt to have been finalised after consultations with Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the party. They said that RSS General Secretary Bhaiyaji Joshi and Joint General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale held discussions with BJP’s Uttar Pradesh in-charge Om Mathur on the new BJP state chief, and Katheria’s name was later suggested to BJP chief Amit Shah. Katheria is a Dalit from Braj area of western Uttar Pradesh and would fit well in caste equations, party sources said.
Asked about appointment of the new UP BJP chief, a top BJP leader said: “It will be decided soon.” Sources said the name of the new BJP state chief could be announced as part of wider reshuffle in the party in line with the party’s “one person, one position” principle. Party secretaries Shrikant Sharma and Siddharth Nath Singh are now ministers in the Uttar Pradesh government as is Dara Singh Chauhan, who headed the party’s OBC (Other Backward Castes) morcha. Dinesh Sharma continues to be national vice-president of the party besides being Deputy Chief Minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.
