Gayatri Prajapati likely to take fourth oath in 3 yrs

 The religious ones may also call it the effect of the 'Gayatri Mantra' (a highly revered mantra from Rig Veda).

Sacked following alleged charges of corruption and land grabbing among others, former Uttar Pradesh minister for mining Gayatri Prajapati would in all likelihood be taking oath of office and secrecy in the next few days.

Incidentally it would be Prajapati's fourth oath in the past three years.
Prajapati had been inducted for the first time in the Akhilesh cabinet in its first expansion as a minister of state in February 2013, a year after SP was swept to power.

Five months later in another cabinet reshuffle, Prajapati had been promoted as minister
of state with independent charge.

Six months later another cabinet reshuffle took place and this Prajapati was again promoted and made a cabinet minister.

­He all along had the charge of the mining department, considered to be very lucrative.
Though Prajapati, an MLA from Amethi assembly segment in Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency of Amethi, was sacked barely hours after Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav removed Akhilesh as the state unit head of the party, his dismissal was on the cards after the Allahabad high court ordered a CBI probe into the allegations of illegal mining in the state.

Prajapti, whose name figured in the BPL list in 2002, in his affidavit filed with the Election Commission during the 2012 assembly polls, had declared properties worth rs. 1.83 crore.

Social activists here alleged that Prajapati had amassed wealth worth several hundred crores through illegal means.

SP sources said that Akhilesh was reluctant to take Prajapati back into the cabinet as he feared that it could dent his image and provide the opposition an issue to attack
him.

Sources said that both Mulayam and Shivpal Singh Yadav were in favour of Prajati's return. Prajapati had met Mulayam in Delhi on the day he was sacked and also remained closeted with Mulayam after the latter rushed to the state capital following crisis in the family.

BJP state unit president Keshav Prasad Maurya and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi sharply criticized Akhilesh for deciding to reinstate Prajapati in his cabinet.

“Where are the charges of corruption now?,” Rahul asked at a meeting in Jhansi.