Tripathi vows to revive BJP in UP before LS polls

Lucknow, Sep 5 (UNI) Rampati Ram Tripathi, the newly-elected president of Uttar Pradesh BJP, today vowed to revive the party in the state by winning back mass support by pursuing the party ideology.

''The caste politics of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party would be countered through ideology and policy,'' said Mr Tripathi, who arrived here from New Delhi to a rousing welcome.

Addressing party workers at state party headquarters here in the presence of outgoing state party chief Kesari Nath Tripathi, he said the party high cammand has given him an ''onerous task'' of restoring the past glory of BJP in UP, especially in view of the Lok Sabha polls due in 2009. ''I will try my best to live upto party's expectations,'' he said.

Mr Tripathi's name as the UP BJP chief was finalised by the party president Rajnath Singh after consultations with senior leaders, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Leader of the Opposition L K Advani in New Delhi.

Mr Tripathi hails from Gorakhpur district in Eastern Uttar Pradesh and is described as a grassroot level worker.

Presently an MLC in the Upper House of the State Legislature, the new UP BJP president served as the General Secretary of the state unit for 11 years before being given the charge of the party in the State.

Before the BJP leadership settled for Mr Tripathi, the name of party veteran and Rajya Sabha MP Kalraj Mishra was also doing rounds for the coveted post.

According to political observers, BJP's decision to choose another Brahmin President was a concious effort in the wake of Bahujan Samaj Party making inroads into the conventional party support base and to take on the ruling party's Dalit-Brahmin equation.

Earlier, immediately after the assembly polls, the Saffron party had replaced its legislature party leader Lalji Tandon with a backward leader Om Prakash Singh.

UNI