Adityanath expands Cabinet, inducts seven fresh faces
The Hindu
New entrants include six from numerically significant non-Yadav OBC, non-Jatav Dalit castes
With less than six months left for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP government led by Yogi Adityanath on Sunday expanded its Council of Ministers, inducting seven fresh faces, including six from the numerically significant non-Yadav OBC and non-Jatav Dalit castes, whose support has been the key to the BJP’s success in the State in the last few elections.
Jitin Prasada, Brahmin leader and former MP who quit the Congress and joined the BJP in June, was rewarded with a Cabinet berth as the BJP tries to consolidate its grip over the influential community.
The remaining six, who were administered oath as Ministers of State by Governor Anandiben Patel, comprise three OBCs and three Dalits, including one from the Scheduled Tribe community. It was widely speculated that Nishad Party president Sanjay Nishad, an ally of the BJP, would find a place in the Cabinet expansion but that did not happen.
Amidst demand by the BJP for an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged unauthorised transfer of funds belonging to the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation (MVSTDC), Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Friday said that the State government will not hand over the investigation to the CBI “voluntarily.”