Yogi Adityanath Cabinet full list: 16 ministers and 14 MoS with independent charge

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Among those who took oath were Keshav Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, who have been appointed as deputy chief ministers.

Apart from the two deputy CMs, 16 Cabinet ministers also took oath during the swearing-in ceremony held at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.

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

Meanwhile, many BJP leaders who were a part of the First Yogi Ministry received a second chance as Cabinet ministers. Though the party has not announced their portfolios, Suresh Kumar Khanna (Finance Minister in first Yogi Ministry), Surya Pratap Shahi (Agriculture), Chaudhary Laxmi Narayan (Animal Husbandry), Dharmpal Singh (Irrigation), Nand Gopal Gupta (Civil Aviation), Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary (Panchayat Raj) and Jitin Prasada (Technical Education) took oath as ministers here on Friday.

However, prominent ministers in previous Yogi government Srikant Sharma, Satish Mahana, Ashutosh Tandon and Sidharth Nath Singh, though they too won the elections, were not given Cabinet berths this time.

Here is the list of all ministers in the Second Yogi Cabinet:

Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath

Yogi Adityanath was an unexpected pick by the BJP for the chief minister’s post after the party scored a landslide win in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. A poster boy for Hindutva, saffron-robed Adityanath was considered a rabble-rouser and often accused of making provocative remarks against Muslims. This time round, his appointment as the CM wasn’t much of a surprise. During the assembly poll campaign, BJP bigwigs hailed the success of Adityanath-Narendra Modi ‘double-engine’ government in the state over the past five years. And the CM tweeted a telling picture of Modi placing a hand over his shoulders. Some observers predict an even bigger role for him the BJP in coming years, though Adityanath took pains in an address to the MLAs to thank Modi and Shah for their “guidance” during his first term, when he had no administrative experience.

Deputy Chief Ministers

1) Keshav Maurya

Despite having lost the recent Assembly elections, Keshav Prasad Maurya’s continuation as UP deputy chief minister speaks volumes about his popularity and hold over the backward classes, whose crucial support was instrumental in the BJP retaining power in the state. The 52-year-old leader lost from Sirathu by nearly 7000 votes, leading to speculations of his omission from the new Adityanath-led government. Coming from a humble background, his political career started during the Ram temple movement under the guidance of Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Ashok Singhal. Maurya came into limelight in 2013, when he led a protest against the arrival of a Christian missionary in a college of Allahabad. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, he was fielded by the party from Phulpur and won the seat with a record number of votes.

2) Brajesh Pathak

Pathak, 57, began his political career as a student leader and was the former president of Lucknow University Students’ Union. His first electoral victory after entering mainstream politics was from Unnao in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. He contested this election with a BSP ticket. Pathak  was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2009. A key member of the BSP’s team of Brahmin leaders, Pathak joined the BJP in 2016 and subsequently won the Assembly election from Lucknow segment. Since Pathak was a minister in the previous Yogi cabinet too, his elevation to the position of deputy CM is seen as a move to replace Dinesh Sharma as the most prominent Brahmin face in the saffron fold.

Cabinet Ministers

3) Surya Pratap Shahi

Shahi, 69, is a senior BJP leader who has served as the party’s state unit chief and also as a minister in Kalyan Singh and Rajnath Singh governments. He was removed from the post of state president after the party’s poor show in 2012 Assembly polls. A law graduate from Banaras Hindu University, Shahi was a cabinet minister in the previous Yogi government as well.

4) Suresh Kumar Khanna

The nine-time MLA is a lawyer by profession and has served as minister in the governments of Kalyan Singh, Rajnath Singh and Ram Prakash Gupta. He also served as a minister in the Mayawati government in 2002-03 when the BJP and BSP had forged an alliance. Khanna, 68, has been one of the most prominent faces of the party for many years now. He also held the Finance portfolio in the previous Yogi cabinet.

5) Swatantra Dev Singh

Singh, 58, is the current president of the BJP’s state unit. A former ABVP leader, though Singh made it to the first Yogi Cabinet in 2017, he was dropped later and appointed as the party chief before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. He hails from Jalaun district and had unsuccessfully contested from Kalpi segement in the district in 2012. He belongs to the backward Kurmi caste.

6) Baby Rani Maurya

Only woman Cabinet minister in the current Yogi government, Baby Rani contested her first assembly poll from Agra Rural after she resigned as the Governor of Uttarakhand. An influential Jatav leader, she has been associated with BJP for several years now. The 65-year-old Dalit leader’s decision to resign from the governor’s post had lead to speculations that the party want her to enter active politics. She held the post for three years. She was made the national vice-president of the party. She received a lot of limelight in 1995, after becoming Agra mayor. In 2002, she served as a member of the National Commission for Women. She had contested the 2007 Assembly elections from Etmadpur on a BJP ticket but was defeated then.

7) Chaudhary Laxmi Narayan

70-year-old Jat leader Chaudhary joined the saffron brigade in 2014. A five-time MLA, he previously won as a nominee of Lok Dal in 1985, Congress in 1996 and BSP in 2007. He was a Cabinet minister in the previous Yogi government too. He had also served as an agriculture minister in the Mayawati government. Chaudhary lost his seat in 2012.

8) Jaivir Singh

9) Dharmpal Singh

Though Singh, 69, was appointed as a minister in the previous Yogi government in 2017, he was dropped later. A law graduate, Singh has been a party stalwart for the past many years.

10) Nand Gopal Gupta

11) Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary

12) Anil Rajbhar

13) Jitin Prasada

14) Rakesh Sachan

15) Aravind Kumar Sharma

He was not the only bureaucrat from Gujarat to have followed Narendra Modi to the Centre. Or the most high-profile. But AK Sharma alone made that next leap: from the backstage to the front. Twenty years after he emerged as one of Modi’s most trusted men, Arvind Kumar Sharma took voluntary retirement from the IAS last year and became a BJP MLC. On Friday, the 59-year-old took oath as a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.

16) Yogendra Upadhyaya

17) Ashish Patel

18) Sanjay Nishad

MoS (with independent charge)

19) Nitin Agrawal

20) Kapil Dev Agrawal

21) Ravindra Jaiswal

22) Sandeep Singh

23) Gulab Devi

24) Girish Chandra Yadav

25) Dharmveer Prajapati

26) Asim Arun

Former IPS Officer Asim Kumar Arun has been made minister of state (Independent charge). Asim won the assembly election from Kannauj sadar seat. In January, Asim Kumar surprised everyone by announcing his voluntarily retirement. His announcement came an hour after the model code of conduct came into effect in January. Asim Kumar, later, joined the BJP and contested the election. Asim’s father Sriram Arun was Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh. Asim Kumar Arun was Kanpur police commissioner when he announced his retirement. Considered to be upright officer, he was earlier posted as the head of Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). He had also undergone a commando training course for the National Security Guard (NSG).

27) JPS Rathore

28) Dayashankar Singh

29) Narendra Kashyap

30) Dinesh Pratap Singh

31) Arun Kumar Saxena

32) Dayashankar Mishra ‘Dayalu’

Ministers of State

33) Mayankeshwar Singh

34) Dinesh Khateek

35) Sanjeev Gond

36) Baldev Singh Olakh

37) Ajit Pal

38) Jaswant Saini

39) Ramkesh Nishad

40) Manohar Lal Mannu Kori

41) Sanjay Gangwar

42) Brijesh Singh

43) KP Singh

44) Suresh Rahi

45) Somendra Tomar

46) Anoop Pradhan ‘Valmiki’

47) Pratibha Shukla

48) Rakesh Rathore Guru

49) Rajni Sharma

50) Satish Sharma

51) Danish Azad Ansari

Only Muslim minister taken oath today is 32-year-old Mohammad Danish Azad Ansari, a native of Ballia. Danish has replaced Mohsin Raza, who was minister in the previous government of Yogi Adityanath.  Danish, who is state general secretary of BJP’s Minority Front, has been made minister of state in the second term of Yogi Adityanath  He was earlier holding the post of member of state Urdu Language Committee. Danish completed his post graduation in 2009 and Masters of Total Quality Management in 2012 from Lucknow University. He also completed Masters of Public Administration from Open University in 2020.  Danish was also active in student politics and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad in 2011.

52) Vijay Laxmi Gautam

With inputs from PTI