Kalraj Mishra to be BJP UP election campaign committee chief

New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI) BJP President Nitin Gadkari todayappointed party vice-president and Rajya Sabha MP KalrajMishra as the head of the election campaign committee forUttar Pradesh where polls are due in May next year.

Mishra, who has earlier held the post of BJP UP chief, isalso a prominent Brahmin face of the party in the state.

Party sources said his appointment is also aimed atsending a message to the Brahmins of Uttar Pradesh, who hadmoved from BJP to BSP when Mayawati launched her Dalit-Brahminsocial engineering programme. This, along with a sizable chunkof Muslim votes, had helped her win a majority in the 2007polls.

BJP aims to win back the upper caste votes in the state.

Former party president Rajnath Singh has also become active inthe state after his tenure got over last year. He is trying towoo the Thakurs to the party.

Mishra''s appointment was necessitated by the "lukewarm"response from the party cadre in Uttar Pradesh to presentstate unit chief Surya Pratap Shahi, sources said.

While the latter will continue in office, Mishra islikely to run the show in Uttar Pradesh during the crucialassembly elections in 2012.

Gadkari also appointed Rakesh Kumar as General Secretary(Organisation) for Uttar Pradesh. Nagendra Nath has beenappointed to the same post in Bihar.

Four new national media co-convenors were also appointedtoday by the BJP president.

K K Sharma, who was formerly on the editorial board ofBJP mouthpiece Kamal Sandesh, has been appointed a co-convenoralong with Hans Bhalla, Rajiv Issar and Shilp Kumar.