Yogi Adityanath inducts 4 new ministers in his cabinet; RLD, SBSP get berth

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday expanded its cabinet with the induction of four new ministers, including Anil Kumar from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which joined the NDA recently and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar.

Two others, Dara Singh Chauhan and Sunil Sharma, both from BJP, were also took oath as minister.

All the four new ministers were administered oath of secrecy by state governor Anandi Ben Patel at Rajbhavan in a ceremony attended by UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his cabinet colleagues.

Contrary to the speculations, none of the seven SP rebel MLAs, who had cross voted during the recently held Rajya Sabha polls, could make into the ministry.

Rajbhar, whose party SBSP had joined the NDA last year, had been waiting to be inducted into the state cabinet since then and had recently warned that his patience was wearing thin.

Interestingly, Rajbhar's induction into the cabinet comes a day after he publicly opposed the candidature of Ravindra Kushwaha from Salempur Lok Sabha seat as a BJP nominee. 

Addressing a public meeting in Ballia on Monday, Rajbhar, whose party wielded considerable influence on the electorally influential 'Rajbhar' community voters -- who were in sizable strength in around a dozen districts in the eastern region of the state -- said that he would not extend any support to the BJP candidate.. 

Rajbhar's outbursts were attributed to the BJP's refusal to offer Salempur LS seat to the SBSP, which had demanded the seat. 

BJP sources said that the saffron party would leave six Lok Sabha seats in UP for its alliance partners. The RLD could get two seats -- Baghpat and Bijnore, while the Apna Dal (AD) could get two seats.

The Nishad Party and the SBSP were likely to be offered one seat each, sources added