Putting an evident end to the rumors and speculations about politics in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath took oath as 32nd chief minister of the state on Sunday. The list of oath takers on Sunday included 2 deputy chief ministers and 47 ministers.
The oath taking ceremony was a high profile one with at least 9 chief ministers of different states attending the proceedings. Along with that, the ceremony also saw top BJP leadership including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP Chief Amit Shah, senior BJP leader LK Adwani and ND Tiwari, heads of various religious organizations etc.
The ceremony took place at Smriti Upwan Park in Lucknow. It also had presence of outgoing chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav. Other chief ministers who were present at the ceremony included Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Goa CM Manohar Parrikar, Chhattisgarh CM R. Singh, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj S. Chouhan & Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu. Uma Bharti, only other politician with saffron who has been a chief minister before Yogi Adityanath was also present at the venue.
Before the name of Yogi Adityanath was announced as the chief minister of the state, there were a lot of speculations about various big names for the post. However, with a surprising announcement, BJP announced Yogi Adityanath as the next chief minister on Saturday evening, only to fuel never-lasting debates on media channels.
According to sources, Yogi Adityanath had openly asked for 2 deputy CM to ensure smooth administration of the state, which is also known as the political capital of the country. Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma are the two names who will assist the chief minister for the next 5 years in UP. Having a smooth administration in Uttar Pradesh will be a challenge for the new government as the next general elections are only 2 years away. Looking at the sensitivity of the general elections and how important it is for BJP to come in power again, Uttar Pradesh is set to play a big role like always.
Some of the big names in the newly formed cabinet include Rita Bahuguna Joshi (Former Congress leader and daughter of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, former UP CM), Suresh Khanna (Eight time MLA), Swami Prasad Maurya (former BSP leader and leader of opposition), Satish Mahana (Former Minister), Surya Pratap Shahi (Former UP BJP President and minister), Ramapati Shastry (Former minister), Chetan Chauhan (former international cricketer), Srikant Sharma, Brijesh Pathak, Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi (previously with BSP minister and Congress Lok Sabha candidate), Gulabdevi, Jai Prakash Nishad, Archana Pandey, Jai Kumar Singh Jackie, Atul Garg, Ranavendra Pratap Singh Dhunni Bhaiya, Neelkhant Tiwari, Mousim Raza, Anupama Jaiswal, Suresh Rana, Upendra Tiwari, Dr. Mahendra Kumar Singh, Swatantradev Singh, Bhupendra Singh Choudhury, Dharam Singh Saini, Anil Rajbhar, Swati Singh (Wife of Daya Shankar).