UP Cabinet expansion: Prasada, six others take oath as ministers in Yogi Adityanath-led Govt

Ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls that are scheduled to be held next year, Jitin Prasada, who joined the BJP from Congress in June this year, took oath as a minister in the State Cabinet led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday.

On June 9, former Congress leader Jitin Prasada had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Union Railway Miniter Piyush Goyal at the party headquarters in Delhi. Prasada's departure was a blow to the Congress party after former Union Cabinet minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had joined the BJP in March 2020.

Apart from Prasada, six other BJP MLAs got a berth in the Yogi Adityanath-led cabinet today.

These six BJP MLAs -- Chhatrapal Singh, Paltu Ram, Sangita Balwant, Sanjeev Kumar, Dharmvir Singh and Dinesh Khatik took oath as ministers of state (MoS) in the Uttar Pradesh Government.

Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath of office to them.

This is the fourth BJP-ruled state where a major rejig is happening after Gujarat, Karnataka and Uttarakhand.

Earlier in the month, Bhupendra Patel was sworn in as Gujarat's new chief minister replacing Vijay Rupani. The entire Gujarat cabinet was changed subsequently.

In Uttarakhand, the BJP had changed its CM three times. After Trivendra Singh Rawat resigned as CM, Tirath Singh Rawat had taken the charge. But he was later replaced by Pushkar Singh Dhami.

In Karnataka, BS Yediyurappa was replaced by Basavaraj Bommai in July.

( With inputs from ANI )