Lucknow: Yogi Adityanath took oath of office as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday for the second consecutive term at Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Friday afternoon.

He and 52 MLAs took oath of office as Ministers in his cabinet. He accommodated two deputies in his Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brijesh Pathak. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and CMs of all BJP ruled States including Nitish Kumar of Bihar, were among the galaxy of leaders present at the mega event. Adityanath and his cabinet were administered oath by Governor Anandiben Patel at the jam packed stadium.

Brajesh Pathak has been elevated to replace Dr Dinesh Sharma as the second Deputy CM.  Brajesh Pathak, was a cabinet minister for Law in the previous Yogi Adityanath Government. A prominent Brahmin face of the party, he has won from the Lucknow Cantonment seat in 2022 polls. In 2017, Pathak jumped the ship from BSP to join BJP. He represented Unnao in Lok Sabah during 2004-2009.

The Yogi cabinet 2.0 comprises of 18 cabinet rank Ministers, 14 ministers of State with independent charge and 20 State Ministers. Meanwhile, 32 new faces have been given place in the new cabinet. Of 32, nine new faces have got cabinet rank, seven Minister of State with Independent charge and 16 Ministers of State. Two BJP allies including Apna Dal (S) and NISHAD party have also secured a berth each as cabinet minister.

Former Uttarakhand governor Baby Rani Maurya is among the new inductees in the Yogi cabinet. The BJP leader is a prominent SC face belonging to the Jatav community. She has also served as the first woman mayor of Agra besides being the member of National Commission for Women.

Some of the bureaucrats turned politicians have also made it to the cabinet. One name that stands out among cabinet ministers is that of Arvind Kumar Sharma, former IAS officer of Gujarat Cadre. He had taken VRS and joined the BJP in January 2021. Currently, he is an MLC and had been active in BJP organization as State Vice-President.

Former top cop and Kanpur commissioner  Asim Arun, who hung his boots taking VRS just two months before the polls joining the saffron brigade, has been inducted as MoS with Independent charge.  Asim Arun has won a very difficult seat of Kannauj Sadar (SC) for the BJP. The BJP decision makers have chosen the Ministers keeping the caste calculus in mind. While the Ministers coming from upper castes have made the biggest cut with 21, OBCs are not much behind getting a near equal representation with 20 berths. However, eight ministers come from the scheduled castes along with one each from Scheduled Tribe, Muslim and Sikh.