Taking the Government formation process in Uttar Pradesh forward, BJP president JP Nadda on Thursday met the party's allies in Uttar Pradesh — Anupriya Patel of the Apna Dal(S) and Sanjay Nishad of the Nishad party at his residence here to finalise the names and numbers to be included in the Council of Ministers from the key allies.
The Apna Dal contested 17 seats and won 12 of them while the Nishad party fought on 16 seats and won six seats in the just concluded Uttar Pradesh polls.
Patel made her debut in the 2012 Assembly elections when her party contested two seats and won both. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party contested two seats in alliance with the BJP and won both. Patel went on to become a Minister of State at the Centre.
In the 2017 Assembly elections, the Apna Dal contested 11 seats in alliance with the BJP and won nine.
Nadda met Patel and Nishad separately along with BJP's Uttar Pradesh poll-in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan and state unit chief Swatantra Dev Singh, and is understood to have discussed government formation in the state.
While Yogi Adityanath is to occupy the Chief Minister’s post for the second time – a record after 37 years-the BJP is yet to be done with the question of having two Deputy Chief ministers as was the case in the first term of the Yogi govenrment.
The loss of assembly elections by ex-deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya from his traditional Sirathu seat has further complicated the issue. Former Governor of Uttarakhand and MLA-elect from Agra rural Baby Rani Maurya is seen as the probable candidate as a minister or a Deputy Chief Minister, sources said.
A number of new faces are certain to gain space in Yogi 2.0 cabinet, sources said. State party president Swatantra Dev Singh is also likely to be inducted in the cabinet.
A day before, Adityanath had held deliberations with Nadda and Union home Minister Amit shah to finalise the list of 50 probable ministers in the state. The UP CM had earlier in the week also had a long meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and consulted Union Minister Rajnath Singh too.The swearing-in ceremony at Lucknow may be held on March 21.