Yogi 2.0 to draft three deputy CMs to balance UP caste arithmetic

Lucknow

Yogi Adityanath, who is tipped to become the chief minister (CM) of Uttar Pradesh for a second consecutive term, is likely to be assisted by three deputy CMs in the state cabinet.

In his first term, Adityanath had two deputies, viz. Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma.

Yogi cabinet 2.0 will have three deputy CMs to balance the complex caste arithmetic in the run-up to the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha polls, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be seeking re-election for a third consecutive term.

According to sources, the proposed UP council of ministers will have about 60 members, including the CM, three deputy CMs, 28 cabinet ministers and the remaining ministers of state.

Maurya, who lost the recent UP assembly polls from the Sirathu constituency in the Kaushambi district, is likely to be drafted into the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) organizational hierarchy ahead of the next parliamentary elections.

While BJP has won 255 seats, its main rival Samajwadi Party (SP) scooped 111 seats. The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won two seats and one seat respectively. The remaining seats were won by Apna Dal (Sonelal), Nishad Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).

The BJP had won the 2017 UP polls when Maurya was the state party unit president. He was instrumental in wooing the non-Yadav other backward classes (OBCs) to the saffron party fold. In fact, he was among the frontrunners to be sworn in as the UP CM but eventually lost the race to Adityanath, who was then Gorakhpur Member of Parliament (MP).

Meanwhile, the BJP is preparing to accord adequate representation to all the castes and regions in the distribution of ministerial portfolios. BJP allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Nishad Party will also be given their quota of ministerial berths in Yogi cabinet 2.0.

Meanwhile, following BJP’s stupendous poll victory in UP, Adityanath has been camping in New Delhi meeting top BJP leaders, including Modi, to discuss the issues of government formation and finalizing the names of ministers and their portfolios.

Former Uttarakhand governor Baby Rani Maurya and UP member of legislative council (MLC) Arvind Sharma, a retired bureaucrat and close confidante of Modi, are expected to be in the race for the posts of deputy CM.

Further, UP deputy CM Dinesh Sharma is likely to be given organizational responsibility in the ruling BJP.

While most of the senior cabinet ministers are expected to be retained in Yogi cabinet 2.0, those who have lost the elections or were among the non-performers will be eased out from the UP council of ministers and replaced with new faces.