Yogi Adityanath to rejig UP cabinet tomorrow; 5 ministers resign

UP CM Yogi Adityanath is set to reshuffle the state cabinet on Wednesday (August 21) in a bid to induct new faces into the ministry ahead of the Assembly bypolls in the state.

Five ministers have already resigned their posts. Those who resigned include state Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwala, Anupama Verma, Chetan Sharma, Mukut Bihari Verma and Swati Singh.

The cabinet expansion is to be held at Raj Bhawan in Lucknow at 11 am on Wednesday.

Adityanath had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister cum BJP president Amit Shah and party working president Jagat Prakash Nadda in New Delhi, following which he approached Governor Anandiben Patel on Saturday (August 17). He was also accompanied by BJP UP President Swatantra Dev Singh in the meetings in New Delhi.

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Earlier, three state ministers had resigned from their posts after they won Lok Sabha seats from the state. Rita Bahugana Joshi, SP Singh Baghel and Satyadev Pachauri, who won from Prayagraj, Agra and Kanpur respectively, had vacated their ministries.

Also, transport minister Swatantra Dev Singh, who became state BJP president, had left the ministry. Another minister, Om Prakash Rajbhar of BJP ally Suhaldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, was sacked after he rebelled.

The cabinet reshuffle which was supposed to be held on Monday (August 19) was postponed due concerns over the health of former finance minister Arun Jaitley. Jaitley, whose health is deteriorating is currently on life support at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMs) in Delhi.

The move comes a day after BS Yediyurappa inducted 17 new ministers in the BJP government in Karnataka, 26 days after he was sworn following the collapse of the JDS-Congress government.

Those tipped to be elevated in UP are ministers with independent charge — Rural Development Minister Dr Mahendra Singh, Minister for Panchayati Raj Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary and Jail Minister Anil Rajbhar.

Also, Pankaj Singh, Noida MLA and son of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Ayodhya MLA Ved Prakash Gupta and two MLCs Yashwant Singh and Vijay Bahadur Pathak are tipped off to become ministers, according to the sources.

These names have been decided on the basis of performance and the names have also been conveyed to the top leadership and Amit Shah.

This will be the first cabinet reshuffle after Adityanath took over the reins of the state in March 2017, heading a 47-member ministry including himself.