Lucknow: The BJP’s massive win in Uttar Pradesh has paved the way for the first reshuffle of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s council of ministers to fill the vacancies. The ministerial berths have fallen vacant as three have won in the Lok Sabha polls while one has been sacked.
The exercise, the first since March 2017 when the Adityanath government was sworn in, is also likely to reward party’s leaders for their hard work in ensuring a win in 62 of the 80 seats in the state, BJP sources said.
The three cabinet ministers who contested the Lok Sabha elections and emerged victors are SP Singh Baghel from Agra, Rita Bahuguna Joshi from Allahabad, and Satyadev Pachauri from Kanpur. Also another seat has fallen vacant after disgruntled minister and SBSP leader OP Rajbhar was sacked by the Chief Minister.
Adityanath indicated during a recent interview to this agency that a cabinet reshuffle was very much on the cards and he is likely to take a decision soon. “We will do it (Cabinet expansion). We will do everything as and when time comes. We will do everything in the interest of the state,” he had said.
The two loyalists who are likely to be rewarded with elevated posts are Mahendra Singh and Swatantradev Singh, in charge of the party’s campaigns in Assam and Madhya Pradesh, respectively, party insiders said.
While Mahendra is Minister of State (Independent charge) for Rural Development and Overall Village Development, Swatantradev is Minister of State (Independent charge) for Transport and Protocol.
“Mahendra was the party’s in-charge in Assam, where the BJP won nine out of 14 Lok Sabha seats. After the elections were over in Assam, he was assigned the task of organising the roadshows of BJP chief Amit Shah in Amethi and Gorakhpur. Both roadshows were highly successful,” a senior UP BJP leader said Monday.
Another leader pointed out that Swatantradev was made in-charge of the crucial state of Madhya Pradesh, where the party bagged 28 out of 29 Lok Sabha seats.
“The task was indeed very challenging as the BJP had lost in the Assembly elections to the Congress. To boost the morale of the party workers and to ensure that a positive result for the party comes from that state was a tough task. His efforts paid rich dividends for the party, as Congress bigwigs such as Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia had to taste defeat,” the leader stated.
PTI