After series of meetings and discussion for about a fortnight, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has given a final shape to the new government in Uttar Pradesh.
On Friday Yogi Adityanath would take oath as new Chief Minister of UP along with his other cabinet colleagues. A day before on Thursday, he would be formally elected the leader of BJP legislators in Lucknow. It is learnt that the Yogi cabinet this time would be formed keeping in mind the forthcoming elections of parliament with proper representation to all sections of society.
It may be mentioned that BJP had fought UP poll with Yogi Adityanath as CM face. BJP top brasses including the Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and national president JP Nadda had projected Yogi as the next CM of UP. Yogi himself had contested assembly pols from his home turf Gorakhpur and won with over one lakh votes. Soon after results were announced, it was clear that Yogi would be taking oath as new CM of UP.
While there has been no doubt over the name of next CM within BJP, the issue of nominating Deputy CMs gave sleepless nights to the party leaders. A section of party was of the opinion that there should be no Dy CM in UP whereas a majority has been advocating for it citing the reason that it is must to keep a balance among the various castes that voted for BJP.
According to senior leaders of BJP, the names of former minister Brijesh Pathak, newly elected legislator and former governor of Uttrakhand Baby Rani Maurya along with current Dy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya has been considered at high level. Another Dy CM in previous Yogi Govt. Dinesh Sharma might be accommodated in the organization.
However, the big catch is that Dy CM in the previous Yogi Govt; Keshav Prasad Maurya lost elections this time. Earlier there were rumors of Maurya being sent to union cabinet or in the organization but the later on the party decided to accommodate him in the state government keeping in mind his acceptability among the backward castes. After the exodus of big OBC faces like Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharam Singh Saini, the BJP wants to give due importance to Keshav Prasad Maurya.
On the other hand the BJP bosses have decided to induct experts, former bureaucrats and senior leaders along with few young faces in the new cabinet of UP. Former ED official Rajeshwar Singh, Former Police Commissioner of Kanpur Aseem Arun and EX PMO official Arvind Sharma are few names who might get a berth in the Yogi cabinet. According to BJP leaders, the Yogi cabinet would have proper representation of backwards and dalits as both these communities have voted for party in the recently held elections. In the wake of 2024 parliament elections, the BJP would accommodate good number of ministers from backward and Dalit communities.
Beside the allies of BJP have also been demanding their share from the cake. BJP allies Apna Dal (S) and Nishad Party have won 12 and 11 seats respectively in the recently held assembly polls. Both these parties have been demanding more seats in the Yogi cabinet while BJP has agreed to give two berth to each of them.
