The BJP is also trying to appease the non-Yadav Other Backward Classes and non-Jatav Scheduled Castes which backed the party in the last three elections.
Former Congress leader Jitin Prasada, community leaders like Sanjay Nishad and five others may take oath on Sunday as ministers in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet ahead of the 2022 state elections, sources said.
Jitin Prasad, Sanjay Nishad, Baby Rani Maurya, Sangeeta Balwant, Tejpal Nagar, Chhatrapal Gangwar, Sanjay Gond, Dharamvir Prajapati’s names are in the list. A meeting at the state capital’s Raj Bhavan is likely to be held at 2pm. The oath-taking will be held at 6pm.
The names were shortlisted last month at a 3.5-hour meeting hosted by Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence that was attended by BJP Chief JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and senior party functionaries Sunil Bansal and Swatantra Dev Singh.
At present, there are 23 Cabinet ministers, nine ministers of independent charge and 22 ministers of state in the Yogi cabinet, that is, the total number of ministers is 54. At present, six ministerial posts are vacant. In such a situation, even if the Yogi government does not remove any minister from the Cabinet, six new ministers can be inducted into the Cabinet.
After the formation of the State government on March 19, 2017, the Yogi government expanded the Cabinet on August 22, 2019. During that time there were 56 members in his Cabinet. Three ministers have died due to Corona. Recently, Minister of State Vijay Kumar Kashyap died, while Minister Chetan Chauhan and Minister Kamal Rani Varun died in the first wave of Corona. In the first Cabinet expansion, six ministers with independent charge were administered the oath of Cabinet.
This could be the final gamble of the Bharatiya Janata Party to settle the caste equations and to adjust allies before the 2022 state assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
In the expansion of the Modi cabinet on July 8 this year, special preference was given to the leaders from Uttar Pradesh. In this, an attempt was also made to cultivate caste mathematics. Out of the 7 new ministers made from UP at the center, 4 were from OBC, 2 Dalit and one was from Brahmin society. This is the first time that a record 15 ministers have been made from UP in the Modi cabinet.
