Yogi Adityanath sworn in as UP CM; heads 47-member team

March 19, 2017

Lucknow, Mar 19: BJP's hardline Hindutva poster boy and five-time MP, Yogi Adityanath was today sworn in as the 21st chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, heading a 47-member council of ministers that includes two deputy CMs.

yogi

A surprise inclusion was cricketer-turned-politician Mohsin Raza, who was sworn in as a minister of state, becoming the lone Muslim face in the state government. BJP had not fielded any Muslim candidate in the Assembly polls.

Interestingly, the chief minister, his two deputies -- BJP state unit chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and party's national vice president Dinesh Sharma -- and Raza are not members of either House of the UP legislature.

Besides the two deputy CMs, his council of ministers has 22 other cabinet ministers, nine ministers of state with independent charge and 13 ministers of state.

The 44-year-old Adityanath is the fourth chief minister from the saffron party, ending its 15-year hiatus in the Hindi heartland state.

The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Governor Ram Naik at Kashiram Smriti Upvan at a grand 90-minute ceremony attended by a galaxy of BJP luminaries including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and L K Advani.

Expressing "immense confidence" that this new team will leave no stone unturned in making UP 'Uttam Pradesh', Modi tweeted, "There will be record development. Our sole mission & motive is development. When UP develops, India develops. We want to serve UP's youth & create opportunities for them..."

Outgoing chief minister Akhilesh Yadav and his father and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav also attended the function.

The swearing-in ceremony was the culmination of a seven-phased Assembly election spread over two months in the most populous state, which gave BJP a landslide victory in the 403-member Assembly. BJP and its allies have won 325 seats.

Adityanath, who lacks administrative experience, was unanimously elected yesterday as the BJP legislature party leader at a meeting of the newly elected MLAs, a move that took many by surprise.

Soon after he was sworn in, Adityanath assumed charge in the newly constructed Lok Bhawan.

The elevation of Adityanath, who has had a chequered rapport with the BJP leadership, has left many puzzled, with political circles abuzz with talk of the RSS having prevailed over the party in deciding the chief minister.

However, RSS Joint General Secretary V Bhagaiah told reporters in Coimbatore that it was a political decision and RSS had no say in the selection of chief ministers in BJP-ruled states.

Often caught in controversy because of his speeches, Adityanath, who heads the Gorakhnath Mutt, allegedly led a "purification" drive for conversion of Christians to Hinduism in 2005.

In 2015, he had said those who oppose yoga can leave India and that they should all be drowned.

He was arrested for allegedly inciting Gorakhpur riots in 2007.

Adityanath, who has been accused by opposition parties of being a divisive political figure, enjoys considerable popularity in the state and is known to make provocative statements, be it about Islam or Pakistan.

A strong votary of construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya, he drove BJP's Hindutva campaign in the eastern UP in the just concluded Assembly polls.

Besides Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, the 22 other cabinet ministers sworn-in include Surya Pratap Shahi, Suresh Kumar Khanna, Swami Prasad Maurya, Satish Mahana, Rajesh Agarwal, Rita Bahuguna Joshi, Dara Singh Chauhan, Dharampal Singh, SP Singh Baghel and Satyadev Pachauri.

The rest of the cabinet ministers are Ramapati Shastri, Jai Prakash Singh, Om Prakash Rajbhar, Brijesh Pathak, Lakshmi Narain Chowdhury, Chetan Chauhan, Srikant Sharma, Rajendra Pratap Singh alias Moti Singh, Siddharth Nath Singh, Mukut Bihari Verma, Ashutosh Tondon and Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi.

The governor also administered the oath of office and secrecy to nine ministers of state (independent charge).

They are Anupma Jaiswal, Suresh Rana, Upendra Tiwari, Mahendra Kumar Singh, Swatantra Dev Singh, Bhupendra Singh Chowdhury, Dharam Singh Saini, Anil Rajbhar and Swati Singh.

The thirteen ministers of state who took oath are Gulab Devi, Jai Prakash Nishad, Archana Pandey, Jai Kumar Singh Jacky, Atul Garg, Ranvendra Pratap Singh alias Dhunni Singh, Nilkanth Tiwari, Mohsin Raza, Girish Chandra Yadav, Baldev Olekh, Mannu Kori, Sandeep Singh and Suresh Pasi.

With this, the Adityanath government has 24 cabinet ministers, including two deputy CMs, nine MoS (independent charge) and 13 ministers of state. Five of the ministers are women.

Before Adityanath, Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh of BJP had served as UP chief minister. Kalyan Singh, now Rajasthan governor, held the high office twice.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
May 3,2024

Bengaluru: In a fresh development in the alleged Hassan sex abuse case, JD(S) MLA H D Revanna, who was accused of sexually harassing his house help, has been booked for kidnapping a victim allegedly sexually assaulted by his son, Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna. The case was filed late Thursday evening at the KR Nagar police station in Mysuru.

The 20-year-old complainant from KR Nagara accused one Sathish Babanna of taking his mother away forcibly and keeping her in an unknown location at the behest of Revanna.

As per the FIR, Revanna has been named as accused 1 while Babanna was accused 2. The duo were booked under IPC Sections 364A (kidnapping for ransom), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine a person) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).

The complainant claimed that his mother, whose name and age were not revealed, had worked as a help in Revanna’s house and farm in Holenarasipura for six years, quit the job three years ago and returned to KR Nagara. She then worked for daily wages.

“Nearly three to four days before the Lok Sabha election, Sathish Babanna, who is known to us and hailed from our native place, took my mother to Holenarasipura after saying that Bhavani Revanna, the wife of MLA Revanna, had asked for her,” the complainant alleged, adding that Babanna dropped her back on the day of the polls.

Babanna allegedly told the victim’s mother and father to remain silent and evade the police if they came looking for them and to inform him of the developments.

On April 29, at around 9 pm, when the complainant was home, the suspect Babanna arrived, told the complainant’s mother that Revanna had asked for her and took her away on his motorcycle. The complainant claimed that he wasn’t aware of where Babanna took his mother and he had told him that if the police found her, a case would be registered and they would all go to jail.

On May 1, two of the complainant’s relatives called him on the phone and told him that there was a video of his mother being sexually assaulted by Prajwal and that it was a huge case, the FIR noted. He was also informed by his two friends of his "mother's videos being circulated".

When he asked Babanna later that night, he was allegedly told that there was a photo of his mother standing with a stick when Prajwal had quarrelled with someone earlier and an FIR had been registered. Babanna told the complainant that his mother would have to be released on bail, the FIR noted.

“Babanna told me not to speak on the matter on my phone and asked me to talk from a different phone,” he said, seeking action from the police.

The case has been transferred to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up to probe the Hassan sex scandal as per the government order.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 30,2024

sexamit.jpg

Guwahati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday condemned the alleged sexual abuse of women involving Lok Sabha MP Prajwal Revanna, asserting that the BJP will not tolerate any insult to women.

Revanna (33) is the BJP-JD(S) alliance candidate for Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, which went to polls on April 26.

Earlier in the day, the JD(S) suspended Revanna from the party with immediate effect.

“The issue regarding Revanna that has been reported in the media is very hurtful and cannot be tolerated in any way,” Shah told a press conference here.

“The BJP’s stand is very clear; we will not tolerate any insult to ‘matri aur nari shakti’ (women empowerment),” he asserted.

Some explicit video clips allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, were circulated in Hassan over the last few days.

The home minister said Congress has been alleging that an NDA partner’s candidate is involved in the incident, “but I just want to ask a small question - whose government is there in that state (Karnataka)?”

“The Congress is in power in Karnataka, and this matter must have come to their attention. Why has it not taken any action on it so far? We cannot take any action as law and order is a state issue,” Shah said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 20,2024

AK.jpg

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday alleged that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is being pushed towards a “slow death” inside Tihar jail by denying him insulin and consultations with his doctor.

Kejriwal, who has Type-2 diabetes, has been asking for insulin and a video conferencing with his family doctor but his requests are being denied by the jail administration, party spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said in a press conference.

"I want to say with full responsibility that a conspiracy is underway for the slow death of Kejriwal," Bharadwaj claimed citing blood sugar readings of the Chief Minister in jail.

He also slammed the Tihar administration, BJP, Centre and Delhi LG for allegedly denying insulin to Kejriwal and said the Delhi Chief Minister had been suffering from diabetes for the last 20-22 years.

On Friday, the chief minister council Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi said Kejriwal has not been administered insulin to control his sugar levels since his arrest, terming it “shocking” and “alarming”.

The ED had on Thursday claimed before the court that Kejriwal was eating food high in sugar like mangoes and sweets every day, despite having Type-2 diabetes, to create grounds for medical bail.

Kejriwal, however, refuted the ED’s claims by asserting before a court that the food he consumed was in conformity with the diet chart prepared by his doctor.

“Out of 48 meals sent from home, only three times mangoes were there…,” Singhvi told the court.

Bharadwaj said Kejriwal was allowed by the court to use a machine in the jail to monitor his daily blood sugar levels.

"Overall, it was a conspiracy to finish Kejriwal so his multiple organ damage and when he comes out of jail after 2-4 months he goes for treatment of kidney, heart and other organs," said Bharadwaj, who holds the portfolio of health in Delhi government.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.