New Delhi: The BJP's caste outreach ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections was reflected in Monday's gubernatorial appointments, with two Scheduled Caste (SC) and two Other Backward Class (OBC) leaders being appointed governors.
Dushyant Gautam, a Jatav (SC) leader and general secretary in the BJP's outgoing organisational team, has been appointed Governor of Sikkim, while senior Jharkhand BJP leader Braj Mohan Ram, who belongs to the Dhobi (SC) community, will take over as Governor of Odisha.
The appointments signal the BJP's outreach to Dalit voters in Uttar Pradesh, where the party is seeking to consolidate its support amid the decline of the BSP, which has traditionally enjoyed the backing of sections of the community. Sudha Yadav, a member of the BJP parliamentary board and a Yadav (OBC) leader, has been appointed Governor of Karnataka. The Yadav community remains a core support base of the Samajwadi Party (SP), the BJP's principal rival in the state.
BJP leader Dhal Singh Bisen, who belongs to the Pawar agrarian community, has been appointed Governor of Uttarakhand. In other changes, Kerala Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar has been transferred to Tamil Nadu, while Om Prakash Mathur, currently Governor of Sikkim, will replace him as Governor of Kerala. UP, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, remains central to the BJP's electoral strategy, with caste representation playing a key role in the party's efforts to broaden its support base ahead of the assembly elections.