Lucknow: The die is cast for the 2024 general election with induction of nine Dalits and 22 ministers from the backward community in the new Yogi Adityanath Cabinet. In all, 53 ministers, including CM Yogi, took oath.
Thus, falling back on the tried and tested social engineering formula, the chief minister has given more than half of the posts to OBCs and Dalits.
Also, deftly playing the Muslim OBC card, the chief Minister has inducted Danish Azad Ansari into the ministry as minister of state in place of Mohsin Raza -- an upper caste -- as the minority face of the State government.
The other minority face is Baldeo Singh Aulakh.
Besides, the Cabinet has a perfect blend of leaders from both east and west UP. The BJP high command has also opted for a large number of young leaders this time, thus laying the foundation of a second rung of leadership within the party.
As was the case last time, two Deputy Chief Ministers have been appointed. Despite tasting defeat in the assembly polls, Keshav Prasad Maurya has been retained as Deputy CM; however, Dinesh Sharma has missed the bus. In place of Sharma, a cabinet minister in the previous Yogi Government, Brijesh Pathak, was sworn in as Deputy CM.
In the new cabinet, which was sworn in at Ekana stadium in Lucknow in the presence of PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and 12 CMs of various BJP ruled states, a significant number of old faces have been dropped. At least, 23 former ministers failed to find a berth.
Those who took oath on Friday included 18 cabinet ministers, 14 state ministers with independent charge and 20 state ministers. Both the allies of the BJP, the Apna Dal and the Nishad Party, have been given one cabinet berth each.
In the bipolar and highly polarized UP assembly election which has just concluded, the state witnessed a sharp division between two communities on religious lines. According to the CSDS-Lokniti, the ruling BJP, despite the general perception that Muslims voting against it, has succeeded in securing at least eight percent vote of the community. So, just as it made sense in the Assembly election to secure the OBC vote, the BJP will be focussing increasingly on Muslim OBCs now.
