UP Cabinet expansion: 4 new ministers take oath ahead of LS polls

Lucknow: Four new ministers were inducted Tuesday into the Council headed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar was administered the oath of office alongside RLD's Anil Kumar and two BJP leaders.

They were sworn-in as ministers by Governor Anandiben Patel at the Raj Bhavan in the presence of Adityanath.

Apart from SBSP's Rajbhar and RLD's Kumar, Dara Singh Chauhan and Sunil Kumar Sharma from the BJP are the new entrants into the state Cabinet.

While Rajbhar represents the Zahoorabad assembly constituency of the Ghazipur district, Anil Kumar is an MLA from Purkazi (SC) in Muzaffarnagar.

Sunil Kumar Sharma is the BJP MLA from Sahibabad assembly constituency in Ghaziabad district. Dara Singh Chauhan is a member of the UP Legislative Council.

This is the first Cabinet expansion in Adityanath's second term as chief minister.

It is being seen as an attempt by the BJP to consolidate its position in several regions of the state ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party are now a part of the ruling NDA.