Brij Bhushan Singh back in UP BJP reckoning, named to state executive | Political Pulse News
UP BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary constituted the state executive committee on October 26 ahead of its meeting scheduled to be held on Friday to draw up the roadmap for the 2027 UP Assembly elections. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will address the opening session of the day-long meeting to be held in Lucknow, while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will address the concluding session. The party’s state office-bearers met on Thursday to decide the meeting’s agenda. Apart from Singh, six other BJP leaders from Gonda district are in the state executive.
“He is a former MP and an active leader with a political career spanning over four decades. But this is the first time he has been made a member of the BJP state executive committee,” said a party leader. Sources said Singh had not been given any position in the past either in the national BJP or the state unit despite being a six-term MP.
Amid the political storm caused by the sexual harassment allegations, the BJP dropped him for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and fielded his younger son Karan Bhushan Singh in the Kaiserganj Lok Sabha seat, one of the constituencies Brij Bhushan has represented in the past. Brij Bhushan did not campaign outside Kaiserganj, where he told voters that he was in “sankat (trouble)” and that Karan’s victory would be “a slap in the face” of those trying to “end his political career”. Karan ended up winning his debut election.
“He was denied a BJP ticket in 2024 Lok Sabha polls because of the sexual harassment allegations,” said a senior BJP leader. “Now that the court has acquitted him, he is legally in the clear and may actively participate in BJP programmes. He may also seek the BJP ticket for the 2029 Lok Sabha election instead of his son. The party, too, will have little hesitation in fielding him again or sending him to campaign elsewhere.”
Brij Bhushan — elected five times on a BJP ticket and once as a Samajwadi Party candidate — remains one of the most influential political figures in eastern UP.
UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said the allegations against Brij Bhushan were part of a “political conspiracy” and the courts had acquitted him. On August 3, a Delhi court acquitted the BJP leader more than three years after six women wrestlers accused him of sexual harassment, which sparked national outrage. However, the acquittal by the trial court has been challenged and a Delhi court on October 28 gave Brij Bhushan a week to respond to the appeal by four women wrestlers challenging it.
“Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav makes Azam Khan the party general secretary and star campaigner even though he is convicted and is in jail. Likewise, Rahul Gandhi meets RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav to learn mutton recipes even though Yadav has been convicted in a case,” he said.
Brij Bhushan was not available for comment. His representative Sonu Singh said the former MP was travelling in Punjab.
An expanded state executive
While the previous state executive committee had 184 members, as per the list available on the UP BJP website, the new panel has 712 members, including 134 special invitees and 30 permanent invitees. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a permanent invitee from Varanasi. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, and former BJP national president Murli Manohar Joshi are also on the panel.
Varanasi, which is the PM’s parliamentary constituency, and Gorakhpur, which is Adityanath’s home turf, have the highest representation in the state executive.
