The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made some changes in its team, ahead of the urban municipal elections in the state.

The new team comprises 18 state vice presidents, 16 secretaries, and seven general secretaries.

The team gives prominence to OBC and Dalit leaders with an eye on the next year's Lok Sabha elections.

Prominent faces in the new team include Abhijat Mishra, national general secretary of BJP youth wing, former state minister Suresh Pasi, former Lucknow University students' union leader Shiv Bhushan Singh and Basant Tyagi.

All of them have been made secretaries in the main BJP team.

Similarly, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan is now the new general secretary of the team. The party has also made the three regional chiefs -- Manvendra Singh (Kanpur-Bundelkhand), Dharmendra Singh (Gorakhpur), and Mohit Beniwal (west) -- the new state vice presidents.

Meanwhile, Noida MLA Pankaj Singh has been made the vice president.

Two state secretaries -- Sanjay Rai, and Subhash Yaduvansh -- have been promoted to the position of general secretary.

The party also announced new regional chiefs. While Prakash Pal, a state vice president, has been named chief of the Kanpur-Bundelkhand region, Dilip Patil has been named chief of the Kashi region. Shahzanand Rai has been made chief of the Gorakhpur region while Kamlesh Mishra has been given the same position in the Awadh region.

Also, Durvijay Singh has been named for the Braj region and Satyendra Sisodia will look after the western region. (KB/IANS)