Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Expansion: SBSP Chief Rajbhar, Dara Singh Chauhan, BJP And RLD MLAs Become Ministers

Four new leaders joined the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday (5 March) including Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) supremo Om Prakash Rajbhar.

The other leaders to join the UP Cabinet are former UP Minister Dara Singh Chauhan, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Sunil Kumar Sharma and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) MLA Anil Kumar.

The inclusion of Rajbhar and Chauhan in the cabinet has been much-speculated since last year. However, Chauhan's loss in the Ghosi by-polls to the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate delayed their inclusion.

The new appointments can be seen as BJP's attempt to balance caste equations as the SBSP chief has a hold on the Rajbhar community (an OBC caste) votes, while Chauhan also holds prominence as an OBC representative.

The Yogi Cabinet has also included BJP's latest ally in UP, namely Jayant Chaudhary's RLD and its MLA is a Dalit, while another BJP MLA included in the cabinet is Brahmin by caste.

With the new inclusions, the total number of ministers in the Yogi Cabinet has reached 56 from 52. They include 22 Cabinet Ministers, 14 Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and 20 Ministers of State.