NEW DELHI< March 25: A 52-member BJP government headed by Yogi Adityanath was installed in the office in Uttar Pradesh on Friday creating a new record in 37 years for an incumbent chief minister to retain office in the state.
The governor Anandiben Patel administered that oath of office and secrecy to the new cabinet at a grand ceremony held at the sprawling Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow in the presence of the prime minister Narendra Modi, the union home minister Amit Shah and a host of other prominent BJP leaders, the chief ministers of some of the other BJP-ruled sates and some Bollywood stars.
Keshav Prasad Maurya, though he was defeated in the elections, and Brajesh Pathak took oath as the deputy chief ministers. Yogi Adityanath was chosen the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh by BJP legislators on Thursday. The BJP won a consecutive term in the recently concluded elections — a record of sorts in nearly 40 years.
Modi congratulated Yogi Adityanath and his cabinet who were sworn into office. “Hearty congratulation to Yogi Adityanath and his cabinet for taking the oath. In the last 5 years, the journey of state development has achieved several milestones. I am sure that under your leadership, the state will write another new chapter of progress by fulfilling the aspirations of the people,” Modi tweeted.
Amit Shah also extended greetings to Yogi Adityanath and his ministers for taking oath. “Congratulations to CM Yogi Adityanath, Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak and all the ministers. I am sure that under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, you will relentlessly work for the development of the state while creating benchmarks of good governance and welfare schemes for the poor,” tweeted Shah.
Soon after taking oath, Yogi convened the first meeting of the new cabinet slated for later on Friday evening where he was expected to distribute portfolios to his ministers.
Besides changing the “Muslim face” of his new cabinet, Adityanath has also dropped several “big names” who were Ministers in the previous cabinet in the second term. Srikant Sharma, Satish Mahana, Mahender Singh, Siddharth Nath Singh, Neelkant Tiwari, and Mohsin Raza are among those left out of the cabinet this time.
Keshav Prasad Maurya, who lost the election, has been retained as Deputy Chief Minister but Dinesh Sharma, who did not contest the assembly elections this time, has been replaced by Brajesh Pathak, who was Law Minister in the last cabinet.
Similarly, Danish Azad Ansari has replaced Mohsin Raza as the Muslim face of the BJP in the state. Ansari, a resident of Balia district, has been a member of the Urdu Language Committee of the UP government. He is also the state general secretary of the BJP Minority Morcha in Uttar Pradesh. Ansari had started his political career as a student leader at Lucknow University. He has held several positions in the RSS-linked student organisation ABVP.
(Manas Dasgupta)