Even as UP Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri spent the afternoon administering the oath of office and secrecy to 57 new ministers, the BJP spent the time wondering how it would be able to keep its flock together.And CM Mayawati’s tactics didn’t help, she appeared to be aiming at stoking the fires of inter-party rivalry again.A kilometre away from Raj Bhavan, where the size of the ministry grew to 79, trouble was brewing at the BJP’s state headquarters. Here, former minister and BJP MLA from Hardoi Ganga Bhakt Singh resigned from the party to protest his exclusion from the expansion list; supporters of another senior legislator similarly left out raised anti-party slogans.Thy weren’t the only disgruntled people. Former ministers Harish Chandra Srivastava, Narendra Singh Gaur, and Shivakant Ojha were significant omissions.The BJP tried to downplay the dissent. State party chief Vinay Katiyar said the outbursts were ‘‘natural but everything will be normal with time’’. But Mayawati seemed to rule out another expansion soon. ‘‘We can consider it but I feel there’s no need for it,’’ she said.She also dealt a blow to ties with BJP by appointing Amar Mani Tripathi and Om Prakash Singh as ministers of state. Tripathi was a minister in the previous government and was sacked by CM Rajnath Singh after being found involved in a kidnapping case. He later joined BSP and publicly criticised and condemned Rajnath Singh and BJP.Mayawati’s expansion has also left those in other parties seething. In Ajit Singh’s RLD, senior MLAs Samarpal Singh and Virendra Singh were reportedly furious at being left out. They were said to be holding a late-night meeting to decide their strategy. Not one of seven Independents was included either; they, too, will meet over the weekend to ‘‘search for better political options’’.
