Speculation over a possible expansion of Uttar Pradesh Cabinet intensified on Monday as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met top BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, in New Delhi.
Adityanath also met BJP national president JP Nadda and working president Nitin Nabin.
Notably, Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak was also in Delhi, and he met Nadda and Nabin separately during the day.
The expansion of the UP Cabinet has been on the cards since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the BJP won fewer seats than the Opposition Samajwadi Party.
While state BJP leadership stated that the Cabinet expansion was “inevitable”, it justified the delay, saying it would take place after the election of the state unit president.
With Assembly elections in the state less than two years away, the BJP last month anointed Maharajganj MP and Union minister Pankaj Chaudhary, an OBC, as the state BJP chief. Outgoing state unit president Bhupendra Chaudhary, who was a cabinet minister in the first term of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, is a frontrunner for a cabinet post, sources in the party said.
“The discussion over Cabinet expansion is yet to reach a concluding state, and many more sittings are required. Today’s meetings of the UP CM with top party leadership were to discuss important government and policy-related issues,” a senior BJP leader said, adding the CM’s visit to Delhi was “not planned”.
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At present, there are 21 Cabinet ministers, including the CM and two deputy CMs, 14 Ministers of State with Independent Charge, and 19 Ministers of State.
Yogi gifts Modi a Ram Temple replica in Gulabi Meenakari
Chief Minister Adityanath on Monday presented Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a replica of Ram’s temple crafted in Gulabi Meenakari. The replica, prepared by craftsman Kunj Bihari Singh on the occasion of the Pran Pratishtha of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, has been created using 2 kilos of silver and gold, with diamonds embedded in the structure. The replica consists of 108 individual parts and was completed over a period of 108 days. “Throughout its creation, continuous chanting of Ram Dhun was carried out for all 108 days,” the government said.
“The symbolic design elements include a golden depiction of Shri Ram, lotus motifs and the bow and arrow, diamonds embedded on the four spires, and an internal lighting arrangement. Together, these elements vividly reflect the spiritual significance of the number 108 in the Sanatan tradition,” an official said
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During his visit to the United States in 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had presented a Gulabi Meenakari chess set to the then US Vice President Kamala Harris. —ENS
