UP Cabinet rejig: 20 ministers take oath

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, October 31

Keeping his sights firmly on ‘Mission 2017’, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav inducted a dozen new faces, including former SAD leader Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, and promoted eight ministers in his Cabinet.

In a 30-minute ceremony, Governor Ram Naik administered the oath of office and secrecy to five Cabinet ministers, eight ministers of state with independent charge and seven state ministers. The eighth one, Hemraj Verma, took the oath later in the day. Ramoowalia, 73, was a Union Minister in the Cabinet of former Prime Ministers Deve Gowda and IK Gujral.

Three ministers promoted to the Cabinet rank are Arvind Singh Gope, Kamal Akhtar and Vinod Kumar Singh alias Guddu Pandit. The other new face in the Cabinet, besides Ramoowalia, is Saheb Singh Saini from Saharanpur who was made an MLC in 2015 after the Muzaffarnagar riots.

Six ministers Riyaz Ahmed, Farid Mahmood Kidwai, Mool Chand Chauhan, Ram Sakal Gurjar, Nitin Agarwal and Yasser Shah have been promoted and given independent charge.

Two new faces who have joined as minister of state with independent charge are Ghazipur MLA Saiyeda Shadab Fatima and Garhmukteshwar MLA Madan Chauhan.

The eight ministers of state who were sworn in today are Radhey Shayam Singh, Shailendra Yadav, Omkar Singh Yadav, Tej Narain Pandey, Sudhir Kumar Rawat, Laxmikant alias Pappu Nishad , Banshidhar Baudh and Hemraj Verma.