New Delhi, March 14: BJP leaders today hinted that the party might pick a "caste-neutral capable" leader as chief minister of politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, saying the focus was on governance and the ability to deliver on the ground ahead of the 2019 parliamentary elections.
A senior leader claimed caste was not a "big criterion" in the state that sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha and had just given the party a stunning 300-plus mandate in the recent Assembly elections.
"The focus is on governance and so the most capable person to handle the job would be picked. Caste is not a big criterion," the leader said.
Several other BJP insiders, however, said the leadership was in a bind: whether to go for an upper caste leader or pick someone from the backward castes.
As either choice could prove counterproductive, a "caste-neutral" selection, they said, appeared to be the best option in the state that is also home to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lok Sabha constituency - Varanasi.
In the "caste-neutral" category, the names of two veteran state leaders - Satish Mahana and Suresh Kumar Khanna - have emerged in the race for the chief minister's post.
Mahana, 56, a seven-time MLA from Maharajpur constituency in Kanpur district, is from the trading Khatri caste that has little presence in Uttar Pradesh.
Mahana, who has never lost an election, was deputy leader of the party in the Assembly after the 2012 elections. He has strong connections with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and is regarded as a leader capable of handling governance.
Mahana had unsuccessfully fought the Lok Sabha elections from Kanpur in 2009 and was to be fielded again in 2014 but was dropped at the last moment to make way for BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi.
Joshi, who was MP from Varanasi, was shifted to Kanpur to make way for Modi to contest from the temple city.
Khanna, 63, an eight-time MLA from Shahjahanpur constituency who was leader of the party in the outgoing Assembly, is a Punjabi Khatri. He too has not lost a single election and is considered a dyed-in-the wool BJP politician.
"Both are caste neutral and very capable leaders. No caste group will be annoyed if one of them is made chief minister," said a senior BJP leader. But the final decision would be taken by Modi and party chief Amit Shah, the leader added.
Many in the party, however, felt that not projecting a backward-caste leader as chief minister might harm the BJP in the run-up to the 2019 elections.
The party's stunning victory in the February-March state polls is widely believed to have been powered by the strong support from non-Yadav backward castes.
"Not making a backward caste leader the chief minister could cost the party dearly," a BJP leader said.
One BJP MP, Sakshi Maharaj, has already come out in public demanding that only a backward caste leader should be made chief minister.
Scheduled Castes and the Other Backward Classes account for 61 per cent of voters in Uttar Pradesh.
In the backward category, state BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya, an MP now camping in Delhi to press for his candidature, is being seen as the frontrunner.
"Maurya has played a big role in shaping the party's victory but he is not considered a leader who can govern a huge state like Uttar Pradesh," a BJP leader said.
