Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday inducted Jitin Prasada and six others into his Council of Ministers, attempting to balance caste and regional aspirations ahead of the assembly polls early next year.
Prasada, who had recently crossed over to the BJP from the Congress, was administered oath as cabinet minister, while six others were sworn in as Ministers of State. With the latest inductions, the constitutional limit of having a maximum of 60 ministers in the state has been reached. Those inducted as Ministers of State are Palturam, Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar, Sangeeta Balwant, Dharamveer Singh, Sanjeev Kumar and Dinesh Khatik. Among the new ministers, Prasada is the lone Brahmin face, while Dinesh Khatik and Palturam are Scheduled Castes and Sanjeev Kumar is Scheduled Tribe. Gangwar (Kurmi), Sangeeta (Bind) and Dharamveer (Prajapati) are from backward castes. Former Union minister Prasada, who hails from Shahjahanpur, is all set to become a member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council with the UP government sending his name to UP Governor for approval, an official said. Besides him, the names of Sanjay Nishad, who heads NISHAD (Nirbal Indian Shosit Hamara Aam Dal) party, Chaudhary Virendra Singh Gujjar and Gopal Anjan Bhurji have been recommended as nominated members of the Legislative Council, the official added.
This is the second expansion of the Council of Ministers headed by Adityanath. The first expansion took place in August 2019. Before Sunday’s expansion, there were 23 Cabinet ministers, including the chief minister, nine Ministers of State (independent charge) and 21 Ministers of State. The maximum strength of the cabinet can be 15 per cent of the total strength of the Assembly. The Uttar Pradesh Assembly has 403 seats. In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, the BJP won 312 seats. Its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) won nine seats.
The Sunday cabinet expansion comes close on the heels of induction of seven ministers from Uttar Pradesh in the Union Council of Ministers in July with an eye on next year’s assembly polls in the state.
