From Congress to BSP to BJP, Brajesh Pathak gets Dy CM post in 'return gift'

Lucknow, Mar 25 (PTI) Brajesh Pathak, who was appointed as a deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Friday, has been projected as a prominent Brahmin face in the BJP.

Born on June 25, 1954 in Mallawan, Hardoi, Pathak was active in politics since his student days and the former president of Lucknow University Students' Union.

After quitting the Bahujan Samaj Party, he joined the BJP in 2016 and was the law minister in the outgoing council of ministers.

Political analysts say Pathak was projected by the BJP as a prominent Brahmin face before the assembly election and by making him the deputy chief minister, the party has given preference to Brahmins.

At a time when leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharam Singh Saini, who came to the BJP from the BSP, quit the party before the elections, Pathak remained loyal to the saffron party.

He launched a fierce attack on the opposition Samajwadi Party after its chief Akhilesh Yadav called the BJP as an "anti-Brahmin" party.

Analysts say, the deputy chief minister post is a "return gift" given to Pathak by the BJP.

Keshav Prasad Maurya is the other deputy chief ministerial of the state. Pathak earned his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the Lucknow University. He became active in student politics in Lucknow University and was elected vice-president of the students' union in 1989. Subsequently, he was elected as the president of the union in 1990.

Pathak was fielded by the Congress party in the 2002 assembly elections from Mallawan constituency in Hardoi, but was defeated by a narrow margin of about 150 votes.

About two years later, he left the Congress and joined the BSP. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the BSP named him as its candidate from the Unnao parliamentary constituency and he won.

After this, BSP chief Mayawati sent him to the Rajya Sabha in 2009.

However, when he was again declared as the BSP candidate from Unnao in the 2014 general elections, he faced defeat.

He then joined the BJP in 2016 and was nominated by the party from the Lucknow Central assembly constituency the following year.

Pathak won from the seat by defeating senior SP leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Ravidas Mehrotra. He was made the law minister in the Yogi Adityanath-led government on March 19, 2017.