Yogi Adityanath sworn in as Uttar Pradesh CM
Yogi Adityanath is the fourth chief minister from the saffron party, ending its 15-year hiatus in the Hindi heartland state
LUCKNOW: BJP’s Hindutva poster boy and five-time MP, Yogi Adityanath was on Sunday sworn in as the 21st chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, heading a 47-member council of ministers that includes two deputy chief ministers.
A surprise inclusion was cricketer-turned-politician Mohsin Raza, who was sworn in as a minister of state, becoming the lone Muslim face in the state government. BJP had not fielded any Muslim candidate in the Assembly polls. Interestingly, the chief minister, his two deputies — BJP state unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and party’s national vice president Dinesh Sharma — and Raza are not members of either House of the UP legislature.
Besides the two deputy CMs, his council of ministers has 22 other cabinet ministers, nine ministers of state with independent charge and 13 ministers of state.
The 44-year-old Adityanath is the fourth chief minister from the saffron party, ending its 15-year hiatus in the Hindi heartland state.
The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Governor Ram Naik at Kashiram Smriti Upvan at a grand 90-minute ceremony attended by a galaxy of BJP luminaries including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and L .K. Advani.
Expressing “immense confidence” that this new team will leave no stone unturned in making UP ‘Uttam Pradesh’, Modi tweeted, “There will be record development. Our sole mission & motive is development. When UP develops, India develops. We want to serve UP’s youth & create opportunities for them...”
Outgoing chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav also attended the function. The swearing-in ceremony was the culmination of a seven-phased Assembly election spread over two months in the most populous state, which gave BJP a landslide victory in the 403-member Assembly. BJP and its allies have won 325 seats.
Adityanath, who lacks administrative experience, was unanimously elected on Saturday as the BJP legislature party leader at a meeting of the newly elected MLAs, a move that took many by surprise. Soon after he was sworn in, Adityanath assumed charge in the newly constructed Lok Bhawan.
The elevation of Adityanath, who has had a chequered rapport with the BJP leadership, has left many puzzled, with political circles abuzz with talk of the RSS having prevailed over the party in deciding the chief minister.
However, RSS Joint General Secretary V. Bhagaiah told report- ers in Coimbatore that it was a political decision and RSS had no say in the selection of chief ministers in BJP-ruled states.
Often caught in controversy because of his speeches, Adityanath heads the Gorakhnath Mutt.
A strong votary of construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, he drove BJP’s Hindutva campaign in the eastern Uttar Pradesh in the just concluded Assembly polls.
Besides Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, the 22 other cabinet ministers sworn-in include Surya Pratap Shahi, Suresh Kumar Khanna, Swami Prasad Maurya, Satish Mahana, Rajesh Agarwal, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Dara Singh Chauhan, Dharampal Singh, S.P. Singh Baghel and Satyadev Pachauri.
The rest of the cabinet ministers are Ramapati Shastri, Jai Prakash Singh, Om Prakash Rajbhar, Brijesh Pathak, Lakshmi Narain Chowdhury, Chetan Chauhan, Srikant Sharma, Rajendra Pratap Singh alias Moti Singh, Siddharth Nath Singh, Mukut Bihari Verma, Ashutosh Tondon and Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi.
The governor also administered the oath of office and secrecy to nine ministers of state (independent charge).
They are Anupma Jaiswal, Suresh Rana, Upendra Tiwari, Mahendra Kumar Singh, Swatantra Dev Singh, Bhupendra Singh Chowdhury, Dharam Singh Saini, Anil Rajbhar and Swati Singh.