UP Cabinet Expansion: Bhupendra Chaudhary, Manoj Pandey among six leaders sworn in as ministers | Highlights

Other than Bhupendra Chaudhary and Manoj Kumar Pandey, Krishna Paswan, Surendra Diler, Hansraj Vishwakarma and Kailash Rajput were sworn in as ministers as part of the cabinet expansion in Uttar Pradesh.

BJP leader Krishna Paswan has been sworn in as minister as part of the cabinet expansion in Uttar Pradesh.

Manoj Pandey, who switched to BJP from Samajwadi Party earlier, has been sworn in as minister in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet.

Former UP BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary has been sworn in as minister, as part of cabinet expansion in Uttar Pradesh.

The oath-taking of the six leaders in Uttar Pradesh will take place shortly at the Jan Bhavan in Lucknow.

Leaders ahve started arriving at the Jan Bhavan in Lucknow ahead of the cabinet expansion in Uttar Pradesh. 

BJP MLA Hans Raj Vishwakarma expressed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the cabinet expansion in Uttar Pradesh, calling them the most popular leaders in the world. 

"Enthusiasm is natural whenever a person moves forward in life and gets an opportunity to serve the nation. So, certainly, BJP is now giving us an opportunity to serve. I express my heartfelt gratitude to my Varanasi MP, country’s Prime Minister and the world’s most popular leader, Narendra Modi, and to our CM Yogi Adityanath," he told news agency PTI.  

On UP Cabinet expansion, state Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna says, “We had been waiting for this day, it's finally happening. The central leadership’s guidance is always there, we welcome it. It is the CM’s prerogative to include more and more people in the cabinet so that the state prospers…”

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is attending the swearing-in ceremony for the cabinet expansion being held at the Gandhi Auditorium, Jan Bhavan in Lucknow at 3 pm. 

With inputs from Vishal Singh 

It is believed that two of these legislators—Manoj Pandey and Pooja Pal—could be appointed as ministers. Manoj Pandey belongs to the Brahmin community, while Pooja Pal belongs to the OBC category. Pooja Pal is the wife of former Allahabad MLA Raju Pal. The mafia don Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf were the prime accused in the murder of Raju Pal. Pooja Pal had contested the 2022 Assembly elections on an SP ticket; however, she cross-voted during the Rajya Sabha elections and made statements critical of Akhilesh Yadav within the Assembly, leading to her expulsion from the party by Akhilesh Yadav last year.

According to sources, the following leaders are among those who may be inducted into the cabinet:

Krishna Paswan

SP rebel MLA Pooja Pal

Manoj Pandey

Bhupendra Chaudhary

Ashok Kataria

Romi Sahani

Currently, the cabinet comprises only 54 members, including the Chief Minister and two Deputy Chief Ministers. Of these, there are 21 Cabinet Ministers, 14 Ministers with Independent Charge, and 19 Ministers of State. Consequently, there is room to appoint six additional ministers to the Yogi cabinet. According to sources, the party high command was initially considering dropping certain ministers; however, it is now being reported that such a move will not take place. Instead, only six legislators are set to be inducted into the cabinet.