Yogi keeps home, revenue portfolios
Deputy CMs, Keshav Maurya will handle PWD and Dinesh Sharma secondary and higher education
days after taking up the charge of UP, chief minister Yogi Adityanath distributed portfolios among his council of ministers on Wednesday.
Yogi, who had promised to bring law and order in shape has kept the home department and more key portfolios such as housing, revenue, and mines and minerals and also the state reorganisation under him.
Even Akhilesh Yadav had kept the home department with him during his term as the CM. But unlike Akhilesh, Yogi did not keep the finance and energy with him.
However, Yogi is likely to shed some departments from his portfolio once he brings in more ministers. He can have 13 more ministers according to the strength of the Assembly — 403.
Yogi gave the charge of public works department to his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya and secondary and higher education to his another deputy Dinesh Sharma. The other departments that Maurya and Sharma got are lesser significant ones.
Keeping in mind Suresh Khanna's experience in the UP Assembly, Yogi gave him the Parliamentary affairs ministry, which Azam Khan held in the previous regime. Khanna has been in UP Assembly for eight successive terms.
Of the four turncoats in the cabinet, Rita Bahuguna Joshi was the luckiest. She got the key women and family welfare, maternal and child welfare and tourism. Rita left the Congress to join BJP.
The other three turncoats — Swami Prasad Maurya, Brajesh Pathak, both from BSP, and Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi who came from Congress, got fewer departments than Rita, and also lesser important ones.
The portfolio distribution happened the day after Adityanath met the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP national president Amit Shah in New Delhi.
Yogi seems to have handed over the departments among his ministers keeping in mind their backgrounds. For instance, he gave the industrial development to Satish Mahana who comes from the industrial town of Kanpur, and Chetan Chauhan, the former cricketer, has been given the sports and youth welfare.
Two of his key aides, Srikant Sharma and Sidharth Nath Singh, have been given high-priority departments. On the day, Yogi took over the office of the chief minister, he nominated Srikant and Sidharth as party spokespersons. Srikant will handle the energy and Sidharth will manage the health.
The former BJP state president, Surya Pratap Shahi, got the agriculture and agri-education and research departments.
Ramapati Shastri was given SC/ST and social welfare and Om Prakash Rajbhar will handle the backward classes welfare department.
‘ISIS’ LETTER FOUND IN VARANASI
An anonymous threat letter bearing the name of ISIS has been found in Mirzamurad area of Varanasi on Wednesday, police said.
A case has been registered against an unidentified person in this connection.
The police took cognizance of the letter that reads, “Pure purvanchal me 24-3-2017 ko tabahi. Bacha sakte ho to bacha lo (There will be devastation across eastern UP on March 24, 2017. Save it, if you can.”
Superintendent of police (rural) Ashish Tiwari said, “A case has been registered against an unidentified person in this connection. A thorough investigation is under way.”