When the first cabinet reshuffle of Yogi Adityanath-led government took place in Uttar Pradesh, there was speculation that in order correct perception that he presides over an “upper-caste dominant” government, a third Deputy Chief Minister from the Dalit community will also be announced in addition to the two existing deputies.
While that did not happen, the cabinet expansion that took place after two-and-a-half-years was done keeping in mind both regional as well as caste equations, with Brahmin, Chatriya and Vaish finding prominence.
Talking about the possibility of a Dalit deputy, Adityanath, in an exclusive interview to News18 Network Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi said, “No there is nothing like that. You must have seen that we chose 18 ministers. The selection of minister was based on performance. At the moment a third deputy CM is not required. The government is doing its work properly.”
“Nobody is allowed to interfere in government matters. It takes decisions keeping in mind the 23 crore people of the state,” the UP CM added.
Speaking about the balance between the government and organisation in the state, Adityanath said, “UP has a BJP-led government that takes its own decisions. Yes, there is good balance between the government and the organisation because we take the government programmes to the ground.” However, the organisation, he said, is necessary for providing feedback. “To keep a check on our plans, the balance between the two is important.”
In the first cabinet expansion of the Yogi Adityanath cabinet the ministers who took oath as Cabinet ministers in the presence of UP Governor Anandiben Patel and the Chief Minister also included Mahendra Singh, Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and Anil Rajbhar. Neelkant Tiwari, Kapildev Agarwal, Satish Dwivedi, Ashok Kataria, Shri Ram Chauhan, and Ravindra Jaiswal were given the portfolio of MoS (independent charge).
The expansion included two women ministers — one in the Cabinet and one Minister of state. Due significance was also given to Varanasi constituency, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the reshuffle. Two MLAs from Varanasi were promoted — Anil Rajbhar as Cabinet minister and Neelkhand Tiwari as Minister of State (Independent charge) along with the inclusion of Varanasi (North) MLA Ravindra Jaiswal.
Meanwhile, Anil Sharma, Mahesh Gupta, Anand Swarup Shukla, Vijay Kashyap, Giriraj Singh Dharmesh, Lakhan Singh Rajpoot, Neelima Katiyar, Chaudhary Udaybhan Singh, Chandrika Prasad Upadhyay, Ramashankar Singh Patel and Ajeet Singh Pal took oath as MoS.
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