Express News Service
LUCKNOW: After receiving a decisive mandate in recently concluded Assembly election, Yogi Adityanath, on Friday, took the oath of office and secrecy second time to become the first chief minister to return to power after completing a successful tenure of five years after a span of 37 years in UP.
Yogi Adityanath led his jumbo 52-member cabinet to take oath of office at an extravagant swearing-in ceremony at Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Friday afternoon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, and CMs of all BJP-ruled states including Nitish Kumar of Bihar, were among the galaxy of leaders present at the mega event. Adityanath and his cabinet were administered oath by Governor Anandiben Patel at the jam-packed stadium.
Yogi was followed by the two deputy CMs, including Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak, to take the oath. Maurya has been retained as the Deputy CM for a second term despite his defeat from his traditional Sirathu seat in recently concluded elections. Having been a prominent OBC face of the BJP, Maurya’s association with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP)-Bajrang Dal makes him important for the BJP. He had won the 2014 general elections from the Phulpur parliamentary constituency of Prayagraj district.
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However, Brajesh Pathak has been elevated to replace Dr Dinesh Sharma as the second Deputy CM. Brajesh Pathak, was a cabinet minister for Law in the previous Yogi Adityanath government. A prominent Brahmin face of the party, he has won from the Lucknow Cantonment seat in 2022 polls. In 2017, Pathak jumped the ship from Bahujan Samaj Party to join BJP. He represented Unnao in Lok Sabah during 2004-2009.
The Yogi cabinet 2.0, comprises of 18 cabinet rank ministers, 14 ministers of state with independent charge and 20 state ministers. Meanwhile, 32 new faces have been given place in the new cabinet. Of 32, nine new faces have got cabinet rank, seven Minister of State with Independent charge and 16 Ministers of State.
Two BJP allies including Apna Dal (S) and NISHAD party have also secured a berth each as cabinet minister.
However, over two dozen (26) ministers, including some prominent faces, of the previous cabinet have failed to make it this time. Prominent among those who have been dropped include the likes of Dr Dinesh Sharma, Siddharthnath Singh, Shrikant Sharma, Ashutosh Tandon, Dr Mahendra Singh, Satish Mahana, Neekanth Tiwari and Mohsin Raza to name a few.
A cursory look at the new cabinet, it becomes clear that this time the BJP think tank has decided to give a chance to young and new faces as of the 60 ministers of previous cabinet, only 20 could make to this one.
Former Uttarakhand governor Baby Rani Maurya is among the new inductees in the Yogi cabinet. The BJP leader is a prominent Schedueld Caste face belonging to the Jatav community. She has also served as the first woman mayor of Agra besides being the member of National Commission for Women.
Moreover, UP BJP chief Swantantra Dev Singh has also been inducted as a cabinet minister. In previous Yogi cabinet, Singh was a Minister of State with Independent charge but was asked to take over as party’s state chief in 2019.
Some of the bureaucrats-turned-politicians have also made it to the cabinet. One name that stands out among cabinet ministers is that of Arvind Kumar Sharma, former IAS officer of Gujarat Cadre. Supposedly close to PM Narendra Modi, Sharma had taken VRS and joined the BJP in January 2021. Currently, he is an MLC and had been active in BJP organisation as stat vice-president.
Similarly, former top cop and Kanpur commissioner Asim Arun, who hung his boots taking VRS just two months before the polls joining the saffron brigade, has been inducted as MoS with Independent charge. Asim Arun has won a very difficult seat of Kannauj Sadar (SC) for the BJP.
In the new cabinet of 52, 38 are newly-elected MLAs, 10 are MLCs and four are non-members, who would have to take up a seat either in assembly or council within six months.
The BJP decision makers have chosen the ministers keeping the caste calculus in mind. While the ministers coming from upper castes have made the biggest cut with 21, OBCs are not much behind getting a near equal representation with 20 berths. However, eight ministers come from the scheduled castes along with one each from Scheduled Tribe, Muslim and Sikh.
The only Muslim minister in previous Yogi cabinet has been replaced by another Muslim face—Danish Azad Ansari—from Ballia. He is general secretary of BJP minority cell. However, the hand of the decision makers seems a little tight over the representation of women in cabinet which stands out to be just 9 per cent. With only five ministers—one each in the rank of Cabinet and MoS Independent charge, three have been inducted as MoS.
