Yedyurappa to head BJP in Karnataka, Maurya in Uttar Pradesh

New Delhi: Former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa was appointed chief of the party in Karnataka, BJP general secretary Arun Singh said on Friday as the party decided on state heads here.

Phoolpur MP Keshav Prasad Maurya will head the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh while Vijay Sampla will be the BJP unit chief in Punjab. Both states are set to go to polls next year. All three are Lok Sabha members.

In the youngest Indian state of Telangana, BJP legislator K. Laxman has been named to head the party, and former Lok Sabha member Tapir Gao in Arunachal Pradesh.

Yeddyurappa became the frontrunner to take up the post of the party's Karnataka unit chief after the Supreme Court last year declined to intervene and revoke a Karnataka High Court order putting on hold his prosecution in a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The former chief minister resigned from his post following charges of being involved in an illegal mining case that hit the state in 2011. In July 2012, he broke off from the BJP and formed his own party, but returned tol the party fold in January 2014. He is a national vice president of the party.

Maurya, who will head the party in Uttar Pradesh, is a first time MP from a humble background. He used to sell tea and newspapers for a living during his childhood.

Sampla, the new Punjab BJP chief, is at present the minister of state for social justice at the Centre.

The name of former cricketer and BJP leader Navjot Singh Sidhu was also being considered for the post. Sources said Sidhu declined the offer.

IANS