With many top leaders in the cabinet, Yogi Adityanath has his work cut out.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is understood to have finalised allocation of portfolios among the state ministers during talks with BJP chief Amit Shah.
On his first visit to the national capital after taking oath on Sunday, he also met top Union ministers, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Later he also spoke in the Lok Sabha. The Gorakhpur MP and firebrand Hindutva leader, who has taken charge along with his two deputies and 44 ministers, is yet to distribute portfolios among them. Earlier, UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi had erroneously said that BJP's Parliamentary Board was meeting in Delhi where all the chief ministers, including Adityanath, will be present.
The presence of two heavyweights as deputy chief ministers and various regional and caste satraps in the ministry has made the task a tricky balancing act for the party. Today's discussions between Adityanath and the party's top brass came amid speculation that Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who is also the state party chief and is its OBC face, is likely to be given a key profile. He was also a contenders for the chief minister's post but missed out to the Gorakhpur MP.
Sources said the party will put the administrative experience of another Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, who has worked as Lucknow mayor, to good use. Though Adityanath did not speak to reporters after meeting Modi, Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said the new chief minister was a "go-getter" and competent administrator under whom execution of developmental projects will bet a fillip. His ministry had Rs 650 crore of tourism projects aimed at developing various religious and heritage circuits which, he said, will see speedy implementation now.
Asked if a BJP government headed by Adityanath will work towards constructing Ram temple in Ayodhya soon, Sharma said crores of people want it built and so does the party and the government. He, however, added that it should be done as per the Constitution.
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 "Yogi Adityanath")
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