Adityanath assigns portfolios to four new Ministers in U.P.

March 13, 2024 04:38 am | Updated 04:38 am IST - Lucknow

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on March 12 assigned portfolios to the four newly inducted Ministers, including Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar.

While Mr. Rajbhar got the Panchayati Raj and Minority Welfare, Haj, and Muslim Waqf departments, Dara Singh Chauhan was allocated Prison, Sunil Kumar Sharma got Information Technology (IT) and Electronics department, and the Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Anil Kumar got Science and Technology department.

Oath taken

All four were sworn in by Governor Anandiben Patel on March 5 in Lucknow. Both Mr. Chauhan and Mr. Sharma are from the BJP.

Mr. Rajbhar represents the Zahoorabad Assembly segment of the Ghazipur district in eastern U.P.; Anil Kumar is an MLA from Purkazi (reserved) seat in Muzaffarnagar district, while Sunil Kumar Sharma is the MLA from the Sahibabad Assembly constituency in Ghaziabad district.

Out of these four, only Mr. Chauhan is a member of the Legislative Council.

Cabinet expansion before the 2024 parliamentary polls highlights the BJP’s focus on social and regional balancing with two new entrants. Mr. Rajbhar and Mr. Chauhan hail from the non-Yadav Other Backward Classes and are from eastern U.P.; two Ministers — one Dalit and the other Brahmin — are from Western U.P. region.