Weeks ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is all set to expand his Cabinet on Tuesday evening with induction of at least four to six ministers, including one each from allies Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). Sources told The Indian Express that while a Dalit leader from west UP, believed to be from RLD, will be inducted into the Cabinet, SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar would be making a return to the Adityanath Cabinet, almost five years after he severed ties with the ruling BJP and quit the government. Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Chief Minister Adityanath will chair a Cabinet meeting at 11 am, officials said. The state BJP leadership, according to the sources, had got a go-ahead for the Cabinet expansion with a list of new entrants finalised by the party’s central leadership during a meeting held in Delhi on Thursday. However, the announcement was put on hold as the BJP was finalising its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, which was declared on Saturday. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputies - Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Maurya - and party’s UP in-charge Baijayant Panda were all in Delhi to participate in the CEC meeting on Thursday where discussion for the cabinet expansion too got a stamp, sources said. The Cabinet expansion was being speculated since Samajwadi Party MLA Dara Singh Chauhan switched sides and contested the bypoll from Ghosi in Mau on a BJP ticket. Though he lost the election, Chauhan was made an MLC from BJP quota in January cementing the possibility of his entry into the UP Cabinet. In July last year, SBSP chief Rajbhar left his ally Samajwadi Party, and joined the BJP-led NDA. It was Rajbhar, who has since been talking about the Cabinet expansion and his induction. Last week, he went on to announce that he would not celebrate Holi if he was not made a cabinet minister. Sources said that those taking oath on Tuesday are believed to have got the invitation, and except for one or two probables all are currently in Lucknow. While the names of Chauhan and Rajbhar were confirmed earlier, the RLD too is believed to have got the confirmation about its one leader, a member of the Dalit community from Muzaffarnagar, sources added. There have also been speculations that at least one Opposition MLA who recently supported the BJP candidates in the Rajya Sabha election will get a ministerial berth. Six Samajwadi Party MLAs, including party’s chief whip Manoj Pandey and Raghuraj Pratap Singh 'Raja Bhaiya' of Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik), were among those who helped the BJP win the eighth Rajya Sabha candidate by defeating SP's third candidate. At present, the UP council of ministers has 52 members and eight more can join it as per the rules. The council includes 18 cabinet rank ministers, including two deputy chief ministers, 14 Ministers of State with Independent charge and 20 Ministers of State. “The expansion has been necessitated to balance the caste equation in certain constituencies, especially in eastern UP districts ahead of Lok Sabha polls,” a senior BJP functionary said.
