UP Cabinet Expansion: Jitin Prasada, Chhatrapal Gangwar, Sangita Balwant Among 7 New Inductees In Adityanath Govt

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expanded his cabinet with seven new faces included on Sunday.

BJP leader Jitin Prasad meets UP CM Yogi Adityanath during the swearing-in ceremony at Governor House in Lucknow, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021. (PTI Photo/Nand Kumar)

New Delhi: In a prominent political move ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election to be held next year, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expanded his cabinet with seven new faces included on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Swatantra Dev Singh had confirmed this development to ABP News in a telephonic conversation.

In the second cabinet expansion of the Uttar Pradesh government, state Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office to Jitin Prasada, Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar, Paltu Ram, Sangita Balwant, Sanjeev Kumar, Dinesh Khatik, and Dharmvir Singh on Sunday evening.

#WATCH | BJP leader Jitin Prasada takes oath as a minister in the Uttar Pradesh Government, at a ceremony in Lucknow

Prasada joined the BJP from Congress in June this year pic.twitter.com/qlnnbp6qOL

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) September 26, 2021

According to sources, Jitin Prasada will be made a cabinet minister while the 6 other BJP MLAs will serve as Ministers of State.

Jitin Prasada's induction into CM Adityanath's cabinet comes in months after the former Congress leader joined the BJP on June 9 in the presence of Union Railway Miniter Piyush Goyal at the party headquarters in Delhi.

Prasada's departure was seen as a significant blow to the Congress party after another important Rajasthan Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia joined the saffron party in March 2020.

Besides a birth in the cabinet, Uttar Pradesh government has nominated Jitin Prasada, Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad, Chaudhary Virendra Singh, and Ram Gopal as members of the UP Legislative Council, CM Yogi Adityanath informed.

The expansion of the council of ministers has taken place as the BJP prepares for the assembly elections in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh early next year.

The UP cabinet was expanded for the first time earlier on August 22, 2019. Several new faces were then included in the cabinet, while some were dropped. There were 56 members in the cabinet then.

Uttar Pradesh’s election in charge Dharmendra Pradhan and his team recently visited Lucknow. The decision to expand the cabinet was, according to sources, taken in the meetings held for three days during Pradhan’s visit.

Ahead of the second expansion, there were 53 ministers in the Adityanath cabinet, including 23 cabinet ministers, 9 independent charge ministers, and 21 ministers of state.

As per the Constitution, the Uttar Pradesh Council of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, can have a maximum of 60 members. Seven spaces that were vacant have been filled in the second expansion.

(With Agency Inputs)