With an eye on the lok Sabha election, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will go for another Cabinet expansion on Thursday to include leaders of different castes and sects in his ministry.
This will be the third expansion in the 15-month-old Akhilesh Yadav Government. Sources in the Raj Bhawan here said that Governor Bl Joshi would
administer oath to the new ministers in the Gandhi Hall at 10 am. “The Chief Minister will immediately go to Delhi from Raj Bhawan as he is expected to attend a meeting of the Planning Commission slated at 3 pm,” a government source said.
Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister called on Governor Bl Joshi and apprised him of the political situation in the state. In the meeting, he also informed the Governor about expansion of the Cabinet. According to sources, some Ministers of State could be promoted to the Cabinet rank while some legislators would be inducted as Ministers of State. There is speculation that the Chief Minister may induct four ministers, and one of them could be Shadab Fatima, the Shia face in the Samajwadi Party and a vocal MlA from Ghazipur. Shia clerics have been demanding representation of their sect in the ministry.
Former minister Narad Rai may also be inducted into the state Cabinet, the source said, adding that Madhu Gupta, an MlC, may also find a
place in the Akhilesh Yadav Cabinet.
The expansion of the state ministry comes in the wake of critical remarks made by Mulayam Singh Yadav on his son’s Government several times in the past. last Sunday, the Yadav clan, including MulayamSingh Yadav, Prof Ram Gopal Yadav, Shivpal Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav, had held a closed door meeting and discussed the impact of the Government. After that meeting, the Chief Minister had hinted at changes at the administrative and ministry levels.
The Akhilesh Yadav Government has the quota of 60 ministers and presently there are 56 ministers in his ministry. Earlier, Cabinet ministers —Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya and Raja Ram Pandey — were removed from the ministry.
Raja Bhaiya, the then Food and Civil Supplies Minister, was removed after the widow of slain Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-ul-Haq accused the minister of hatching a conspiracy to kill her husband. Raja Ram Pandey was shown the door for his sexist remarks against the District Magistrate of Sultanpur.