A day before the swearing in of the new government in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP Legislature Party meeting of newly-elected lawmakers will be held in Lucknow on Thursday wherein they will formally elect Chief Minister-designate Yogi Adityanath as its leader.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das have been appointed as observers for this important meeting. In-charge of UP and Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will also be present in the meeting.
"Letters have been sent to all the 250 newly-elected BJP legislators asking them to attend the meeting on Thursday at 4 pm. In the meeting Yogi Adityanath would be formally elected as leader of the BJP Legislature Party. Later in the evening, a BJP delegation led by Yogi will call on Governor Anandiben Patel and put its claim to form government," state BJP vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.
"As per the statutory provision, the governor will invite the leader of the BJP Legislature Party to form the government and announce the time of swearing-in ceremony," he said.
It is almost after three decades that a chief minister will get a second consecutive term after completing the first term of five years. In fact, Yogi will be the first chief minister from BJP to have completed five years in office.
Sources claimed that around 50 ministers are also likely to take oath of office and secrecy with the chief minister on March 25. After attending the swearing-in ceremony of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami in Dehradun on Wednesday, Yogi flew to Delhi to finalise the list of ministers.
"The formation of the cabinet would be a tight rope walk for Yogi Adityanath as he has to strike a balance among different castes and regions before finalizing the list. Seniority of members will also be under consideration for ministerial post," a BJP leader said.
"Besides Yogi, some leaders from the alliance are also likely to be accommodated in the cabinet. A meeting with alliance partners will be held after the BJP Legislature Party meeting. Sanjay Nishad has also been invited for that meeting," the leader said.