New Delhi: With Yogi Adityanath taking oath as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second term, picture over his deputies is becoming clear. OBC leader KP Maurya and Brahmin face Brajesh Pathak are set to become Deputy Chief Ministers of the state. They took oath of office just after Yogi Adityanath, leaving nothing to doubt about their high-profile induction in the UP cabinet. Swatantra Dev, a veteran leader of Kurmi community, is likely to get plum portfolio in the Yogi cabinet owing to his valuable contribution in strengthening party cadre & firming up party’s high-decibel campaign for the polls. Brajesh Patha, a top Brahmin face of the state, was Law Minister in previous Yogi cabinet. He had jumped ship from Mayawati’s BSP to BJP in 2017. Lucknow | Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak take oath as the Deputy Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/HsO83jWSUR — ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) March 25, 2022 His induction is seen as a replacement for Dinesh Sharma, who was deputy CM in Yogi govt’s first tenure. The grand oath ceremony took place at the majestic Ekana stadium in Lucknow, amid a turnout of an audience more than 50,000 in numbers. Top BJP brass including PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP President JP Nadda attended the oath-taking ceremony. Yogi Adityanath-led BJP returned to power in the state with landslide majority in the state, with saffron coalition winning 273 out of 403 seats. In 2017 elections, the BJP-led alliance won 325 seats. During the campaigning for Assembly polls, PM Modi lauded Yogi Adityanath’s work and even gave a popular slogan – ‘UP plus Yogi, bahut hai upyogi’. The direct endorsement of Yogi govt by the Prime Minister found strong resonance in public and the PM-CM combine went on to register historic mandate for the party in 2022 Assembly elections.
