Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath inducted Jitin Prasada and six others into his council of ministers, attempting to balance caste and regional aspirations ahead of the assembly polls early next year. Prasada, who crossed over to BJP from Congress in June, was administered oath as cabinet minister, while six others were sworn in as ministers of state. Uttar Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel administered oath to the new ministers at the Gandhi Auditorium in the Raj Bhawan in the presence of the chief minister.
Those inducted as ministers of state are Paltu Ram, Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar, Sangeeta Balwant, Dharamveer Singh, Sanjeev Kumar and Dinesh Khatik.
Among new ministers, Prasada is the lone Brahmin face, while Dinesh Khatik and Paltu Ram are scheduled castes and Sanjeev Kumar is scheduled tribe. Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar (Kurmi), Sangeeta Balwant (Bind) and Dharamveer Singh (Prajapati) are from backward castes. With this, the constitutional limit of having a maximum of 60 ministers in the state has been reached.
It is believed that Prasada's induction was part of the party's efforts to woo Brahmin community, which accounts for around 13 per cent of the state's population. Son of veteran Congress leader Jitendra Prasada who had unsuccessfully contested against Sonia Gandhi for the post of Congress president, Jitin Prasada is the second prominent close associate of Rahul Gandhi to say goodbye to the party. Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had earlier switched over to the BJP from the Congress.
BJP had recently announced an alliance with NISHAD party in the presence of UP poll in charge Dharmendra Pradhan. Since then, speculations were rife that Sanjay Nishad would be nominated as member of legislative council. The nomination of Gurjar and Bhurji is being seen as BJP’s bid to woo caste votes. Chaudhary Virendra Singh Gurjar, who hails from Kairana in Shamli, is a strong Gurjar leader from west UP region.
Chaudhary Virendra had switched loyalty from Samajwadi Party to BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and diligently campaigned for the BJP. His contribution in the Lok Sabha elections was acknowledged by several BJP leaders as it paved the way for the win of party candidate Sanjeev Balyan from Muzaffarnagar. Chaudhary Virendra was an MLC from Samajwadi Party when he had switched loyalty.
The fourth BJP nominee, Gopal Anjaan Bhurji, hails from Moradabad. Bhurji community has presence in west UP and some parts of east UP. BJP think tank believes his nomination would help in wooing voters of Bhurji community.
The tenures of three nominated members of the legislative council or Vidhan Parishad ended on July.
