With the third and last cabinet expansion of the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, BJP has set the political tone for the assembly elections to be held early next year. Governor Anandiben Patel on Sunday administered the oath of office and secrecy to six new ministers at Lok Bhawan in Lucknow and promoted two existing ministers. Out of the 6 new ministers who took oath, 5 are from Dalit and OBC community, while one minister is from Brahmin community.
This cabinet expansion has clearly been prepared under the strategy of ‘social engineering’ rather than any new experiment. To achieve caste balance, BJP has elected new ministers in a very balanced and thoughtful manner. The party’s focus has been on other caste communities belonging to Brahmins, Jats, Dalits, Pasis, Valmikis, Lodhs and other backward classes, so as to further strengthen its organizational and social hold before the 2027 assembly elections. This was the reason that before finalizing the names of the ministers, the Chief Minister met in Lucknow. Yogi Adityanath In the presence of BJP leaders, brainstorming and meetings continued till late night.
During this time western and eastern Uttar Pradesh Special attention was given to maintaining regional balance between the backward and the depressed classes as well as giving representation to the major communities. Through this cabinet expansion, before the 2027 elections, BJP has tried to solve social and caste equations and find a solution to Akhilesh Yadav’s ‘PDA’ (Backward, Dalit and Minority). In March 2022, when Yogi 2.0 government was formed under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath, a total of 52 ministers took oath.
22 upper caste, 25 OBC and 10 Dalit ministers in the cabinet
At that time, 21 upper caste, 20 OBC and 8 Dalit leaders were given place in the cabinet. Apart from this, 1 tribal, 1 Muslim and 1 Sikh face were also included in the cabinet. In terms of the number of members of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, there can be a total of 60 ministers including the Chief Minister in the state cabinet. Now after the third and final cabinet expansion, all the 60 ministerial posts of Yogi government have been filled. There are 22 upper caste, 25 OBC and 10 Dalit ministers in the current cabinet. Apart from this, 1 tribal, 1 Muslim and 1 Sikh minister are also included.
Brahmin and Thakur faces are important in upper caste equation
The ministers appointed from the upper caste in the UP cabinet in 2022 included 7 Brahmins, 8 Thakurs, 3 Vaishyas, 2 Bhumihars and 1 Kayastha leader. At that time, BJP had made Brajesh Pathak the Deputy CM to balance the Brahmins, while Jitin Prasad was made a Cabinet Minister and given the responsibility of PWD department. The second expansion of the Yogi cabinet was made in the year 2024, in which 4 new ministers were included. Among these, 2 OBC, 1 Dalit and 1 Brahmin leader got place.
During that time, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, who broke the alliance with Samajwadi Party and joined BJP, Dara Singh Chauhan, who switched from SP to BJP, Anil Kumar from Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and BJP MLA from Sahibabad Sunil Kumar Sharma were made ministers. After that expansion, the number of cabinet increased from 52 to 56.
Seats became vacant after MLAs were elected as MPs
After the Lok Sabha elections 2024, two ministers of Yogi government, Jitin Prasad and Anoop Valmiki reached Parliament. Both resigned from the post of ministers. Jitin Prasad was made a minister in the central government after becoming MP from Shahjahanpur, while Dalit face Anup Valmiki was elected MP from Hathras. After these resignations, the number of ministers in Yogi cabinet had reduced from 56 to 54.
Jitin Prasad’s replacement in cabinet is Manoj Pandey.
After Jitin Prasad joined central politics, the number of Brahmin ministers in Yogi cabinet had reduced from 8 to 7. Now, in the recent cabinet expansion, BJP has once again tried to maintain the Brahmin balance by making SP’s rebel MLA Manoj Pandey from Unchahar in Rae Bareli district a cabinet minister. After Manoj Pandey became a rebel, SP expelled him from the party and currently he is a member of the Legislative Assembly as an independent MLA. Manoj Pandey is largely being seen as the replacement of Jitin Prasad in the Yogi cabinet. Even after two years, BJP has again given the message of balancing social and caste equations by including a big Brahmin face in the Yogi cabinet.
Caste equation is at the center of cabinet expansion
The new members included in the cabinet include Kailash Rajput, MLA from Tirwa assembly seat of Kannauj and Surendra Diler, MLA from Khair assembly seat of Aligarh. Surendra Diler, who hails from the Valmiki community, is being seen as an attempt by the BJP to increase its reach among Dalit voters, while by making Kailash Rajput a minister, the party has tried to strengthen its support among Lodh voters. Other ministers who took oath included Krishna Paswan, MLA from Khaga seat of Fatehpur, who belongs to the Pasi community, and Hansraj Vishwakarma, MLC from Varanasi, who is considered close to the top leadership of the party.
By including Hansraj Vishwakarma, BJP has given a clear message of targeting the non-Yadav OBC vote bank in Purvanchal. Hansraj has been in active politics for 34 years. He started his political journey from the booth level in 1989 and also played an active role in the Ram Mandir movement. At the same time, through Krishna Paswan, the party has tried to tap the non-Jatav Dalit vote bank. Krishna Paswan started his public life as an Anganwadi worker. She is a four-time MLA and has been a District Panchayat member twice. She is considered the main Dalit woman face of BJP.
Bhupendra Chaudhary will represent West UP and Jats
Apart from this, the return of former BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary to the cabinet is considered to be an attempt to strengthen the Jat representation in Western UP. Bhupendra Chaudhary, one of the prominent Jat leaders of Uttar Pradesh, is a resident of Moradabad and has been active in the Sangh and BJP organization for a long time. Chaudhary became a member of the Legislative Council for the first time in the year 2016. After the formation of the BJP government in 2017, he was made the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Panchayati Raj and in 2019 he got the responsibility of Cabinet Minister, Panchayati Raj. The reason behind including him in the cabinet is to maintain harmony between the government and the organization.
There is a political message hidden in giving promotion to two ministers.
The responsibilities given to Somendra Tomar and Ajit Pal are an indication that the government is working on a strategy of maintaining continuity with change. Somendra Tomar was the MLA from Meerut South Assembly seat and Minister of State for Energy and Additional Energy Sources, his stature in the government has been increased to Minister of State (Independent Charge). Similarly, Ajit Pal, MLA from Sikandra Assembly seat of Kanpur Dehat, was the Minister of State for Science and Technology and Electronics and Information Technology. He has also been promoted and given the responsibility of Minister of State (Independent Charge).
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