In Uttar Pradesh 21 new ministers took oath on Saturday after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday sacked eight cabinet ministers and withdrew portfolios of nine ministers in a major shake-up.
The ministers were sworn-in by Governor Ram Naik at the Raj Bhawan.
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The new cabinet ministers are Arvind Singh ‘Gope’, Kamal Akhtar, Vinod Kumar Singh alias ‘Pandit Singh’, Ramoowalia, whose inclusion created a flutter as he is neither a member of any House nor is a resident of Uttar Pradesh.
Among others who were sworn-in are Shailendra alias ‘Lalai Yadav’, Sudhir Kumar Rawat, Pawan Pandey and Omkar Singh Yadav.
Hemraj Verma could not be sworn-in as a minister of state as he could not reach the venue on time. He will be sworn later in the day.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and senior ministers of the government and members of the ruling party were present at the function.
Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday announced mass sacking of his ministers. He sacked eight cabinet ministers and stripped nine other ministers of their portfolios in a major shake-up.
The move was then seen as a precursor to the cabinet reshuffle scheduled for 31 October. The Samajwadi Party government is 43-month-old.
The ministers who have been removed from the state cabinet are Shiv Kumar Beria, Bhagwat Sharan Gangwar, Ambika Chowdhary, Aridaman Singh, Alok Kumar Shakya, Yogesh Pratap Singh, Shivakant Ojha and Narad Rai.
Other ministers to be divested of their ministries are Paras Nath Yadav, Ram Govind Chowdhary, Durga Prasad Yadav, Brahma Shankar Tripathi, Iqbal Masood and Mehboob Ali. Their departments, for now, will be with the chief minister.
Earlier, Akhilesh Yadav called on Governor Ram Naik late on Wednesday to discuss the expansion of his cabinet and to take Naik’s consent.