Cabinet expansion comes at a time when the BJP has expressed confidence about winning all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the key northern state in the 2024 general elections.
Months ahead of Lok Sabha election 2024, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath may expand his cabinet. According to sources, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party president Om Prakash Rajbhar may be included in the cabinet.
BJP leader Dara Singh Chauhan and an MLA from Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) may also get entry in Team Yogi. It is also speculated that one Jat and one Muslim from RLD may get a place in the Yogi government.
CM Yogi had a few months back met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in what his office described as a courtesy meeting. The chief minister also met BJP president J P Nadda. The meetings come amid speculation, which has been going on for some time, of a reshuffle in the state’s council of ministers.
On cabinet expansion, SBSP national president Om Prakash Rajbhar said, “…No such discussion has taken place yet…last time before the imposition of the code of conduct, the cabinet was expanded both in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. On that basis, we say that this time also there can be an extension before the code of conduct is imposed…”
Meanwhile, the BJP’s Central Election Committee (CEC) met on Thursday night as its members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, held deliberations to finalise the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls expected to be held in April-May. According to sources, PM Narendra Modi from Varanasi seat of UP, Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Ravi Kishan from Gorakhpur, Harish Dwivedi from Basti, Kamlesh Paswan from Bansgaon, Ajay Mishra Teni from Kheri, SPS Baghel from Agra, Rajkumar Chahar from Fatehpur Sikri, Sanjeev from Muzaffarnagar. Smriti Irani from Baliyan, Amethi, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti from Fatehpur and Subrata Pathak from Kannauj can contest elections.
