Cabinet reshuffle: With Assembly polls in mind, PM Modi inducts seven ministers from Uttar Pradesh

Keeping in mind Assembly elections early next year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday doubled the number of central ministers by inducting seven more ministers from Uttar Pradesh.

At present, Modi 2.0 had seven ministers -- Rajnath Singh, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Smriti Irani, Gen V K Singh, Krishan Pal, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Sanjeev Balyan -- from Uttar Pradesh and with new inductions, it has risen to 14. If one takes Modi, a Gujarati by birth but represents Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, and Naqvi, who hails from Uttar Pradesh but represents Jharkhand, the number will further rise.

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On Wednesday, Modi added Anupriya Patel, Pankaj Choudhary, Satyapal Singh Baghel, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Kaushal Kishore, B L Verma and Ajay Kumar Teni to his team, with an eye on the Assembly polls early next year.

Of the seven, three -- Baghel, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma and Kishore -- are Dalits, indicating the importance the BJP gives to the community ahead of elections. The induction of Apna Dal chief Anupriya, who belongs to the Kurmi caste, after a gap of two years also shows that the BJP does not want to antagonise the community ahead of the polls.

Among the new ministers, four each are from Maharashtra, West Bengal and Karnataka while three are from Gujarat and two each from Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Rajasthan and Assam got one each.

Altogether, the newly-minted Modi team has ministers from 25 states and union territories.

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Sources said the 78-member strong Modi team now consists of 12 ministers, including two Cabinet ministers, from the Dalit communities -- Chamar-Ramdassia, Khatik, Pasi, Kori, Madiga, Mahar, Arundathiyar, Meghwal, Rajbonshi, Matua-Namashudra, Dhangar and Dusadh.

With the induction of a couple of ministers from Scheduled Tribes, their number has risen to eight and they represent eight states -- Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Assam. Sources said they belong to seven communities -- Gond, Santal, Miji, Munda, Tea tribe, Kokana, and Sonowal-Kachari.

The composition of the Council of Ministers also showed that there are 27 OBC ministers of which five are in the Cabinet.

With the induction of a number of young ministers, the average age of the Council of Ministers have reduced to 58 years. Also, there are four former Chief Ministers, 18 former ministers in states and 39 former MLAs.

The new team also has 13 lawyers, six doctors, five engineers and seven former bureaucrats. Seven ministers have PhDs while three are MBAs and 68 graduates.