In Pictures: Missing Maya, Modi-Mulayam bonhomie and more at Yogi Adityanath's swearing-in as UP
BJP's hardline Hindutva poster boy and five-time MP, Yogi Adityanath was sworn in as the 21st chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, heading a 47-member council of ministers that includes two deputy CMs.
BJP's hardline Hindutva poster boy and five-time MP, Yogi Adityanath was sworn in as the 21st chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, heading a 47-member council of ministers that includes two deputy CMs.
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 LK Advani. Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh and his son Akhilesh Yadav attended the ceremony, but BSP chief Mayawati did not turn up for the event.
Mayawati chose to boycott the event alleging that by making "RSS man" Adityanath the chief minister, the saffron party wanted to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls not on its development plank, but by "polarising voters". "I got the invitation but boycotted the oath-taking ceremony as the BJP has betrayed the backward castes and Brahmins by making him (Adityanath) the chief minister following the RSS agenda," she said.
(PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, the newly sworn-in Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath and ministers after the oath ceremony in Lucknow on Sunday. (Image credit: PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Governor Ram Naik and the new Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath during the swearing-in ceremony in Lucknow on Sunday. PTI Photo by Nand Kumar. (Image credit: PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav as SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav looks on after the oath ceremony of new Uttar Pradesh government in Lucknow on Sunday. (Image credit: PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav exchange warm gestures during the swearing-in ceremony new Uttar Pradesh government in Lucknow on Sunday. (Image credit: PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being received by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Ram Naik, Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh and the Chief Minister-designate Yogi Adityanath, on his arrival in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. (Image credit: PTI)
Supporters of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) celebrate the swearing-in of Yogi Adityanath as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, in Ahmedabad on Sunday. (Image credit: PTI)