In an unprecedented move, Yadav sacked eight of his ministers on Thursday and now he has has inducted 12 new faces into his council of ministers. In all 20 ministers took oath, including those who have been promoted, at the Raj Bhawan in Lucknow. This is the sixth Cabinet reshuffle after SP stormed to power in 2012 with a thumping majority and is apparently Akhilesh’s attempt to put his stamp on the 43-month-old government which was seen to be in the shadow of the old guard.
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UP governor Ram Naik is slated to administer oath to the new ministers tomorrow morning at 1030 hours at the Gandhi Sabhagar in the Rajbhawan.
The Cabinet ministers who have been dropped are Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh (stamp and court fees, civil defence, registration), Ambika Chaudhary, (backward class welfare, handicapped welfare), Shiv Kumar Beria (textile and sericulture industries), Narad Rai (khadi and village industries) and Shivkant Ojha (technical education).
There have been allegations of non-performance against several ministers with even Mulayam Singh Yadav venting ire against them from various platforms.
Among the eight sacked, five were of Cabinet rank while the rest were Ministers of State. Besides Ramoowalia, Sahab Singh Saini is another new face to have found berth in the Cabinet.
Hectic political activities are on high at the eve of the reshuffle of the Uttar Pradesh ministry with ruling Samajwadi Party MLAs thronging the state party office, meeting senior leaders.
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Yadav also brought in Radheshyam Singh, Tej Narain Pandey, Pappu Nishad, Shailendra Lalayi Yadav, Omkar Singh, Sudhir Rawat and Bansidhar Baudh from Shravasti, as ministers of state, in his government. One other, Hemraj Verma to be appointed as MoS in the cabinet, could not be sworn in, as he couldn’t reach the ceremony on time.
