UP Election Results 2017: Caste could see Manoj Sinha ascend as BJP's CM

Manoj Sinha is a three-time Lok Sabha member and the telecom minister in the Narendra Modi government. He is a Bhumihar, a caste group preponderant in the neighbouring state of Bihar but numerically insignificant in Uttar Pradesh. This caste neutrality could work in Sinha’s favour when caste groups within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) compete to have one of their own ascend the chief ministerial post in Lucknow.

With the BJP clinching UP in a resounding victory, Sinha's name is in contention along with Keshav Prasad Maurya's. 

Sinha, 57, is a civil engineer from the Banaras Hindu University. He was