New Delhi: The younger son of defence minister Rajnath Singh and a rebel sitting MLA of the Samajwadi Party have found their way into the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) organisation in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2027 assembly election. The ruling saffron party on June 25 unveiled its new organisational team in the key state: 19 vice-presidents, eight general secretaries and 19 secretaries. It took the party six months since Union minister and Kurmi leader Pankaj Chaudhary was appointed as its state president to announce a change in the party structure.Neeraj Singh, the younger son of Rajnath Singh, was named as one of the 19 vice-presidents. He directly replaced his elder brother and MLA Pankaj Singh, who previously held the same post. However, the most striking addition to the list of vice-presidents is Pooja Pal, the SP MLA from the Chail seat.Pal, who has been openly aligning with the BJP since cross-voting for the party in the 2024 Rajya Sabha elections, remains a sitting SP legislator, though her political loyalties have decisively shifted.The Akhilesh Yadav-led SP last August expelled Pal from the party soon after she praised Chief Minister Adityanath in the state assembly for delivering what she called “justice” in the murder case of her husband, Raju Pal, in 2005 in Allahabad. Raju Pal was a sitting MLA of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) when he was gunned down. The murder had also forced a young Pooja Pal into electoral politics.“I will continuously strive to further strengthen the organisation while working with complete loyalty, dedication, and honesty towards the party’s ideology, principles and organisational structure,” Pal said, after being nominated as a vice-president of BJP’s UP unit.Her entry into the BJP’s organisation has surprised observers as she is not a political heavyweight and has little previous connection with the saffron party. However, through her induction, the BJP hopes to consolidate the non-Yadav OBC vote at a time when the main Opposition, the Samajwadi Party, is pinning its hopes on the PDA narrative (Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak).Her promotion serves another strategic purpose: it keeps the communally-polarising narrative surrounding the late politician Atiq Ahmad and the 2005 murder of her husband, Raju Pal, firmly in the public consciousness.Moments before the killing of Atiq Ahmed (L) and Umesh Pal, a key witness in Raju Pal’s 2005 killing, in separate incidents in 2023, in Uttar Pradesh. Photos: YouTube screenshots.The Pal-Gaderias are traditional sheepherders and are a key segment of the non-Yadav backward caste vote in the state. For the BJP, the slain Atiq Ahmad, former MP and a five-time MLA, was the prototype Muslim ‘mafia’ against whom the state government under Adityanath led a concerted campaign, demolishing properties worth crores of rupees and shooting dead or arresting numerous individuals linked to him ever since coming to power in 2017.The brazen killing of Atiq and his brother Ashraf Ahmad on live television in 2023 also firmly planted him into the public consciousness beyond the streets of Prayagraj. In April this year, LiveLaw reported, a Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Allahabad High Court seeking a ban on the Hindi movie ‘Dhurandhar: the Revenge’ across UP, alleging that it illegally portrayed Atiq’s murder as a sovereign act orchestrated by Indian intelligence.Pooja Pal has won three elections. She was first elected as an MLA in 2007 as a candidate of the BSP. She retained the Allahabad West seat in 2012 but could only finish third in 2017. Soon after, she was expelled by the BSP and joined the SP, on whose ticket she contested and won from the Chail seat in adjoining district Kaushambi.However, her relationship with the SP did not last long. Just ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, she joined several other SP MLAs and supported the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election. Justifying her rebellion, Pal then said that her vote was a token of gratitude by a ‘sister’ towards her ‘brother’ Adityanath for addressing her “peeda (agony) of many years” and that of her community.In doing so, Pal was crediting Adityanath for the shocking double murder of Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf on live television in April 2023 in Prayagraj. Three shooters were arrested for the crime and currently face trial.Pal’s rebellion had little impact at the local level, as the SP-Congress combine won the Kaushambi Lok Sabha seat in 2024, securing a lead in all five Assembly segments, including Chail.Despite her open rebellion and continued inclination towards the BJP, the SP did not take disciplinary action against her. The tipping point came in August 2025, when during an address in the state Assembly, Pal openly heaped praise on Adityanath for his “zero-tolerance policy” against crime and mafia. She personally thanked Adityanath for “reducing criminals like Atiq Ahmad to dust.”“The CM truly secured and delivered justice,” said Pal.The SP immediately expelled her for anti-party activities and breach of discipline. However, according to the UP Assembly, she continues to remain an SP MLA.Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were accused of orchestrating Raju Pal’s murder as well as planning the murder of Umesh Pal, a key witness in Raju Pal’s killing, in 2023. Atiq’s son Asad Khan was the prime accused in the Umesh Pal murder case, as he was caught on CCTV footage firing indiscriminately at Pal.Asad and another person were then shot dead by the UP Special Task Force in Jhansi in an alleged encounter. Two days after his son’s killing, Atiq and his brother Ashraf were shot dead on live television by three mysterious assailants in the presence of police and media persons while they were being escorted to a hospital for a medical check-up after being brought to Prayagraj for investigation in their alleged role in the Umesh Pal murder.A state-appointed judicial commission later concluded that the double murder was not a “pre-planned conspiracy” carried out by police officers and officials of the UP government. The commission also said that it did not find any “connection,” “clues”, “material” or “circumstance” to show that the police system or government was involved or in collusion with the assailants.A separate two-member judicial commission, investigating the killing of Asad Khan and three others, concluded that they were genuine “encounter” shootings. Moreover, the UP STF team that shot dead Asad in Jhansi was awarded the police medal for gallantry.Omar Rashid is an independent journalist.