BJP leader and five-time Gorakhpur MP, Yogi Adityanath was sworn-in as the 21st Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, a day after he was unanimously chosen by party MlAs as the legislative leader at a meeting in lucknow. He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ram Naik at a gracious function held at the Kanshi Ram Smriti Upvan.
Along with the chief minister two deputy chief ministers, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, 22 cabinet ministers, nine ministers of state with independent charge and 13 ministers of state were also administered oath of the office. A total of 47 ministers were administered oath of office.
The 22 cabinet ministers are Surya Pratap Shahi, Suresh Khanna, Swami Prasad Maurya, Satish Mahana, Rajesh Agarwal, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Dara Singh Chauhan, Dharam Pal Singh, SP Singh Baghel, Satyadev Pachauri, Ramapati Shastri, Jai Pratap Singh, Brajesh Pathak, laxmi Narain Choudhury, Chetan Chauhan, Srikant Sharma, Rajendra Singh alias Moti Singh, Siddhant Nath Singh Mukut Bihari Verma, Ashutosh Tandon and Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi, all from the BJP. Om Prakash Rajbhar is from the BJP ally Suheldeo Bhartiya Samaj party.
The nine ministers of state (Independent charge) are Anupuma Jaiswal, Suresh Rana, Upendra Tiwari , Bhupendra Singh Choudhury, Dharam Singh Saini,, Anil Rajbhar and Swati Singh, all from the BJP. Dr Mahendra Kumar Singh and Jat leader from Moradabad Bhupendra Singh Choudhury are the two MlCs among the minister of state with independent charge while Swantra Deo Singh is neither the MlA nor MlC.
The 13 minister of state are Gulab Devi, Jai Prakash Nishad, Archana Pandey, and Atul Garg, Ranvendra Pratap Singh alias Dhunni Bhaiyya, Neelkanth Tiwari, Mohsin Raza, Girish Chandra Yadav, Baldev Singh Olakh, Mannu Kori, Sandeep Singh and Suresh Pasi. Jai Kumar Singh Jacky is the lone minister of state from the BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) ,
Regional imbalance is clearly visible in the council of ministers as three MlAs have been inducted in the cabinet while one minister of state from lucknow have been inducted from lucknow. The cabinet ministers are Rita bahuguna Joshi, Brijesh Pathak and Ashutosh Tandon while Swati Singh is minister of state. BJP swept the Bundelkhand by winning all the 19 seats in the region but only one MlA has been inducted in the council of ministers while Swatantra Deo Singh also from Bundelkhand is to seek membership of either of the house in next six months.
Yogi Aditya nath ministry has a fair share of the turncoats who have found berth in his cabinet. Swami Prasad Maurya is the former leader of opposition in previous assembly and was a senior BSP leader. His son had also contested the election but lost from Unchaar assembly seat in Raibareli district.. Rita Bahuguna Joshi, from state Congress president president was elected to assembly from luck now Cantonment seat in 2012 assembly elections.
Dara Singh Chauhan, from most backward caste lonia is the former lok Sabha MP of the BSP from Mau in east UP. SP Singh is the former MP of Samajwadi party later he defected to BSP and then BJP. Brijesh Pathak is the former Rajya Sabha MP of the BSP and defected to the BJP in August last year. lakshmi Narayan Chowdhary, Jat leader from Mathura is a known party hopper. In 1996 he was elected to assembly on congress ticket. He broke from the Congress to join loktantrik congress party and joined the BJP government headed by Kalyan Singh in 1997. In 2007 he joined BSP and was a cabinet minister in Mayawati regime till 2012.
Nand Gopal Gupta elected from Allahabad south, was cabinet minister in mayawati government from 2007 to 2012. S a minister he survived a bomb attack at his residence in Allahabad in 2008 where a journalist was killed in the attack. Dharmpal Singh Saini, who defeated the congress leader Imran Masood from Nakud seat in Saharanpur district was cabinet minister of basic education department in BSP government from 2007-12. He was also indicted by the then lokayukt Justice (retired) NK Mehrotra for alleged irregularities in posting of the Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSAs). In the BJP government he has been demoted to minister of state with independent charge.
Chief Minister Yogi Aditya nath has managed to maintain the caste balance in the council of ministers. The ministry has 25 upper caste ministers including the CM, 14 from the OBCs backwards besides minorities getting two berths with one to a muslim and another to a Sikh. Moshin Raza, BJP leader and former cricketer is the lone muslim face in the council of ministers. Raza, who had joined the BJP some years back is not the member of the either of the house of UP legislature. Mohsin Raza, who had represented the state in cricket, took the oath on the name of ‘Ishwar’ and not ‘Allah. Along with Moshin there is another former cricketer Chetan Chauhan has been inducted as cabinet minister. He is the former BJP MP from Bareilly.
Three dalits also made a place in the ministry, one in the cabinet rank and two in minister of state. Eight turncoats, who switched over to BJP and won the elections, were also accommodated in the ministry. Four women also made their place in the ministry.
BJP returns back to power in UP exactly after 15 years and eleven days. Incidentally the last BJP CM was Rajnath Singh, from Rajput community, who resigned on March 8, 2002 after losing the assembly polls. He has been succeeded by Yogi Aditya nath also from the same community.