Yogi cabinet expansion today, 6 to 7 new ministers to take oath in Raj Bhavan

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is likely to expand his cabinet this evening. Six to seven new ministers will be administered the oath of office. This is the reason why Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel is cutting short her Gujarat tour and returned to Lucknow.

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is likely to expand his cabinet this evening. Six to seven new ministers will be administered the oath of office. This is the reason why Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel is cutting short her Gujarat tour and returned to Lucknow, according to sources.

Along with Yogi Adityanath, BJP in-charge Radha Mohan Singh, and state president Swatantra Dev Singh are finalising the names to be included in the cabinet. According to information received from sources, Chhatrapal Gangwar, Jitin Prasad, Paltu Ram, Sanjay Gaur, Sangeeta Bindu, Dharamveer Prajapati, Dinesh Khatik, are likely to be inducted along with few others.

Apart from this, BJP's MLC Dharamveer Prajapati, who hails from the Braj region of UP, is also in the probable list. Before the upcoming assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party wants to strike a balance in social equations in the Braj region. Dharamveer Prajapati is one of the senior leaders of BJP and also fulfilled many important responsibilities in the past.

Dalit leader, Balrampur MLA Paltu Ram's name is also making rounds. BJP will try to give a big message to Dalits by giving a ministerial post to a Dalit leader before the elections. Similarly, Sangeeta Bind, a woman MLA from Ghazipur, is also set to take the oath as a minister this evening, add sources.

The name of Dinesh Khatik, who hails from the Dalit community from Meerut, is also in the probable's list. Similarly, BJP MLA Chhatrapal Gangwar, who identified himself as OBC face in western Uttar Pradesh, set to become a Minister. Recently, the Bharatiya Janata Party's state election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan had announced an alliance with the Nishad Party, but the suspense remains on whether he will be included in the cabinet expansion or not.

Before the expansion of the cabinet, the names of the members of the Legislative Council of the four vacant seats in the state will also be decided soon. According to sources, the names of those who will be made MLC include Jitin Prasad, Sanjay Nishad, Gopal Anjan Bhurji, and Virendra Gurjar.

Today, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was scheduled to visit the Defence Expo site to attend the Kisan Sammelan at 12 noon. However, he had to skip the programme since he was tied up with high-level meeting with party leaders to shortlist names, sources added.