CM Yogi meets governor amidst talks of reshuffle

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath called on Governor Anandiben Patel on Thursday evening, giving credence to speculations about a possible rejig and expansion in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet. Over the last three days, the chief minister was on an inspection spree of districts and returned to Lucknow around 6 pm on Thursday. An hour later, Yogi’s motorcade drove to the Raj Bhawan to meet Governor Anandiben Patel, who is also the incharge of Madhya Pradesh, and suddenly returned to Lucknow from Bhopal on Thursday.

The governor went to Bhopal on May 10 and was slated to stay there till Saturday next. But her sudden return to Lucknow and her meeting with Yogi Adityanath is widely being seen as a step toward finalising details of a reshuffle in the ministry. However, Raj Bhawan officials said that it was a routine meeting where the CM paid a courtesy call and apprised her of the steps that the government had taken to control the spread of corona infection.

Incidentally, speculations about a probable expansion and a reshuffle in the Yogi cabinet was in the air after the recent meeting of Sar Karyawah of RSS Dattatreya Hosbole with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, senior BJP leaders in Delhi at an in-house meeting in Lucknow.

The centre of the speculation is Arvind Kumar Sharma, a close aide of Modi, who was made MLC in January this year. There is a strong speculation that he might be included in the Yogi government and given a prominent position. After the formation of the Yogi Adityanath government in the state on March 19, 2017, the cabinet was expanded on August 22, 2019. There were 56 members in his cabinet. After three ministers — Vijay Kumar Kashyap, Chetan Chauhan and Kamala Rani Varun — died due to coronavirus infection, the strength of the ministry came down to 53. As the maximum number of ministers in the state cabinet could be up to 60, there was a vacancy of seven seats in the cabinet.

At present, there are 22 cabinet ministers, nine independent charge ministers and 22 ministers of state in the Yogi Adityanath government cabinet. With the assembly elections just about seven months away, Yogi can bet on the political equation by adding some new people to his government. There is also a speculation that Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya could be made BJP state chief and few other ministers could be sent back to party organisation.
“Balancing the caste would be a big challenge for the chief minister, if he goes for reshuffling,” a senior BJP leader said.