New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday assigned portfolios for the 44 ministers who were sworn into his cabinet on Sunday.
The CM, after meeting Governor Ram Naik at Raj Bhawan in Lucknow, submitted a full list of ministers with their respective portfolios. Adityanath decided to keep the all-crucial home ministry for himself.
Deputy Chief Minister and UP BJP Chief Keshav Prasad Maurya was given the Public Works Department (PWD) ministry and Dinesh Sharma, also deputy CM, received the secondary and higher education ministry.
Keshav Prasad Maurya, who left the Bahujan Samaj Party last year to join the BJP, was given the Cooperative department ministry.
Swati Singh, MLA from Lucknow’s Sarojini Nagar and president of UP BJP women’s wing, received the women and child development ministry. Singh was in the news last year after her husband Dayashankar Singh kicked up a row by making objectionable comments against BSP chief Mayawati.
Other key leaders who got plum ministries include Rita Bahuguna Joshi with women & child development and tourism, Ashutosh Tandon with primary education and Shrikant Sharma with power.
Senior BJP leader Sidharth Nath Singh got both the agriculture and health ministries. Cricketer-turned-politician Chetan Chauhan will take charge as the sports minister while Mohsin Raza, the lone Muslim in the new UP cabinet, will get the minority affairs ministry.
The key portfolio of finance has gone to BJP’s Bareilly Cantt MLA Rajesh Agarwal. By keeping the home ministry for himself, Yogi has sent out a clear message – the government plans to make law and order a priority.
This development comes at a time when the government has already started its crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses and anti-Romeo squads are mushrooming all across the state to keep a check on incidents of eve-teasing.
Here is CM Yogi Adityanath’s list of cabinet ministers and their respective portfolios:
Yogi Adityanath: Home Ministry, Information, Housing and Urban planning, Food and Civil Supplies, Mining, Personnel, Institutional Finance, Estate
KP Maurya: Public Works Department (PWD), Food Processing, Entertainment Tax and Public Enterprises
Dinesh Sharma: Higher and Secondary Education, Science and Technology, Electronics and IT
Rajesh Aggarwal: Finance Ministry
Rita Bahuguna Joshi: Child Development Ministry
Surya Pratap Shahi: Agriculture Ministry
Chetan Chauhan: Sports and Youth Development
Mohsin Raza: Minority Affairs, Science and Electronics
Shrikant Sharma: Power Ministry
Swati Singh: Women Development Ministry, NRI, Flood Control and Agriculture Export
Suresh Khanna: Parliamentary Affairs Ministry
Sidhharth Nath Singh: Health Ministry
Swami Prasad Maurya: Cooperative Development
Jai Prakash Singh: Excise
Suresh Rana: Sugarcane Development and Sugar Mills
Satish Mahana: Industrial development
Dara Singh Chauhan: Forest and Environment, Zoological Gardens
SP Singh Baghel: Fisheries, Minor Irrigation, Animal Husbandry
Satyadev Pachauri: Khadi Gramodyog, Silk, Export Promotion
