Newly appointed Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh was accorded a grand welcome by party leaders and workers on his arrival here on Friday.
Braving sudden rain, BJP workers gathered at different points between the airport and the party headquarters at the busy Vidhan Sabha Marg to welcome Singh. Many showered flower petals at him and garlanded him.
On his way to the party office from the airport, Singh got down at Deendayal Upadhyaya Smritika and paid tribute at the statue of the late leader, the party unit said in a statement issued here.
Ahead of the upcoming bypolls to the 12 Assembly seats, the BJP appointed Singh, also a state minister, as the chief of its Uttar Pradesh unit on Tuesday.
Hailing from the influential Kurmi caste, the 55-year-old OBC leader replaces Mahendra Nath Pandey, a Brahmin, who was inducted into the Union Cabinet following his re-election from Chandauli Lok Sabha seat.
Singh's appointment is being seen as part of the BJP's efforts to consolidate its base among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), who strongly backed the saffron party in the 2017 state assembly and the recently-concluded Lok Sabha polls.
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Singh was in-charge of the BJP affairs in Madhya Pradesh during the parliamentary polls. The saffron party bagged 28 of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh.
He is currently a member of the UP Legislative Council and holds the portfolio of the minister of state (independent charge) for transport.
He joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP's ideological parent, in 1986 and held various posts in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.
He also held various posts in the BJP from 2004 to 2014.