Yogi Adityanath, the Hindutva hardliner, and BJP leader began his term as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. The promise he gave the people of UP, which has the largest population, was to not discriminate against any religion or sections of people. Adityanath along with Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, the deputies took the oath alongside 44 ministers in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, the BJP chief and also several party members at the Smriti Upvan in Lucknow.
Amit Shah’s selection included his close allies Shrikant Sharma, Siddarth Nath Singh and Dinesh Sharma. Keshav Prasad Maurya is another favorite of Shah, who despite many claims and protests was given Lok Sabha membership and also made the chief of CJP in the UP state. Son of Lalaji Tandon, Ashutosh Tandon, and grandson of former CM Kalyan Singh, Sandeep Singh, have been included in the ministry, but Pankaj Singh, Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s son failed to make it to the ministry.
After the swearing in ceremony, the CM speaking at a press conference promised a regime that would never discriminate between the people of the state. This statement came amidst concerns about the Hindutva leader’s brash comments in the past. The CM also promised to fulfill the campaign promises ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas.’
Reports also claimed that the new CM Yogi addressed the party workers, and told them not to make “any brash or thoughtless comments,” and also advised them to declare their known sources of income within the first fortnight of taking charge of ministries.
The UP ministry that took charge consists a total of 23 forward caste members, 14 OBC and 5 Dalits, one Sikh and one Muslim. Adityanath Yogi, as the CM called himself while taking the oath as 19th CM of UP, at 44, he is second youngest after Akhilesh Yadav.
