In Wednesday’s cupboard growth, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chosen seven MPs (MPs) from Uttar Pradesh in a cautious try to strike a caste and regional stability within the state, the place elections are due in six months.
While the BJP dropped Bareilly MP Santosh Gangwar, who was Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labor, it inducted six new faces – BL Verma, Pankaj Choudhary, SP Singh Baghel, Kaushal Kishor, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma and Ajay Kumar Mishra – from the get together and an alliance companion – Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal (S).
In doing so, the BJP management gave precedence to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), particularly Kurmis and Scheduled Castes.
Two years after Modi got here to energy for a second time period, a Brahmin chief – Ajay Kumar Mishra – was additionally inducted into the Council of Ministers.
Also, seven ministers are from Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, Awadh and Purvanchal areas of the state.
Anupriya Patel is again
Apna Dal (S) MP from Mirzapur, Anupriya Patel, who had served in Modi’s first time period as Union Minister of State for Health between 2016 and 2019, once more made it to the Council of Ministers, however this time as Minister of State for Commerce and as business. The 40-year-old was dropped from the council of ministers after Modi got here again to energy in 2019.
His re-joining forward of the meeting elections in Uttar Pradesh is being seen as an try by the BJP to place its alliance companion Apna Dal(S) in good humour. Along with one other BJP ally Nishad Party in UP after OP Rajbhar’s SBSP was ousted, the get together desires to maintain Apna Dal in its fold.
Patel belongs to the Kurmi group, a significant OBC group in Uttar Pradesh and has a powerful presence within the Purvanchal area of Uttar Pradesh. In truth, Patel’s Lok Sabha constituency, Mirzapur, borders the PM’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi and has a powerful presence of Kurmis.
Anupriya took over the reins of the get together after the sudden demise of her father and Apna Dal founder Son Lal Patel. The Apna Dal (S) solid an alliance with the BJP earlier than the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and Anupriya Patel was later inducted into the Union Cabinet and made Minister of State for Health. After the 2019 elections, he was dropped from the cupboard.
However, his get together struck offers with the BJP for key positions within the Center and within the UP cupboard, the place the BJP got here to energy in 2017.
Anupriya had mentioned in a gathering of get together staff on the 72nd beginning anniversary of Apna Dal founder Sonelal Patel, “We have demanded to create a ministry for OBCs on the strains of minority ministry to resolve the issues of backward courses.
He met Union Home Minister and senior BJP chief Amit Shah on the day UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was summoned to Delhi after criticism from inside the get together for the state authorities’s dealing with of the second wave of the Covid pandemic.
concentrate on kurmi votes
Anupriya Patel, who joined the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, was not the one Kurmi chief from UP. BJP MP from Maharajganj Pankaj Choudhary was one other Kurmi chief to make it to the Union Council of Ministers. He has been made MoS (Finance).
The 56-year-old chief began his political profession as a member of the Gorakhpur Municipal Corporation in 1989-91 and later turned its deputy mayor. He turned a member of BJP Working Committee in 1990. He was elected to the Lok Sabha for the primary time in 1991 from Maharajganj. He was re-elected from the constituency in 1996 and 1998, 2004, 2014 and 2019. His promotion to Modi’s ministry displays the BJP’s particular concentrate on japanese UP forward of the meeting elections within the state. With the Samajwadi Party attempting to woo the Apna Dal faction of Anupriya Patel’s mom, the BJP is leaving no likelihood to garner Kurmi votes in its favour.
Attention Non-Yadav OBCs
Apart from the 2 OBC faces – Anupriya Patel and Pankaj Choudhary – the BJP has included BL Verma, who belongs to the Lodh group, within the council of ministers.
Verma, 59, hails from Badaun district in western Uttar Pradesh, which is part of the Rohilkhand area. Considered near the get together’s outstanding Lodh face and former chief minister Kalyan Singh, his choice is geared toward cashing in on the Lodh vote financial institution. Verma has a protracted affiliation with the BJP and was lately despatched to the Rajya Sabha. Varma, who’s proficient in Sanskrit, is claimed to have performed his Masters from Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya in Varanasi.
Verma, who has turn out to be a Union Minister for the primary time, is presently holding the publish of Chairman of the UP State Construction and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, having fun with the rank and place of Minister of State. He has been given the portfolio of MoS (Development and Cooperation of the North East Region).
sc issue
Considering the significance of Dalit votes within the upcoming meeting elections, the BJP has chosen three Scheduled Caste leaders from three completely different areas of UP- West UP, Awadh and Bundelkhand.
BJP MP Satya Pal Singh Baghel, who represents Agra within the Lok Sabha, has joined the Union ministry for the primary time in practically three a long time of political profession. He has been made MoS within the Ministry of Law and Justice.
While the five-time MP’s caste has been below query prior to now, with some claiming that he belongs to the OBC group, they’ve claimed that he belongs to the Dhangar group, a scheduled caste.
The 61-year-old has been related to each the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party prior to now. He received from Jalesar as Samajwadi Party MP in 1998, 1999 and 2004. After being suspended from SP, he contested two Lok Sabha elections as a BSP candidate. In 2014, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha as a BSP candidate. Baghel turned the president of the BJP OBC Morcha in 2015 and two years later he turned a BJP MLA from Tundla earlier than being re-elected to the Lok Sabha, this time on a BJP ticket from Agra.
His inclusion can also be seen as an try by the BJP to stability the regional concern with Santosh Gangwar’s ouster from the Union Cabinet.
In a shock transfer, BJP inducted its Mohanlalganj MP Kaushal Kishor as MoS (Housing and Urban Affairs). The 61-year-old was one of many BJP leaders who questioned the Yogi Adityanath authorities’s dealing with of the second wave of the Covid pandemic.
A day after Kishor misplaced his elder brother to Covid-19 in April, he wrote to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressing concern over the state of affairs at two authorities hospitals in Lucknow – King George’s Medical University and Balrampur Hospital.
Earlier, he had additionally appealed to permit sufferers present process remedy in residence isolation to purchase oxygen cylinders.
The Kaushals symbolize the Pasi group, the second largest scheduled caste group within the state and have a powerful presence, particularly within the Awadh area the place Kishor resides.
A two-time MP, Kishor began his political profession in 2002 as an MLA from Malihabad. In 2002–03, he additionally turned a minister of state within the Mulayam Singh authorities of the Samajwadi Party. He is presently the National President of Parakh Mahasangh and the state head of the SC Wing of BJP.
The third Scheduled Caste member to hitch the Union ministry from UP is 63-year-old Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma. BJP’s outdated hand Verma is a five-time MP from Jalaun district of Bundelkhand area. Verma, who was sworn in as a Union minister for the primary time on Wednesday, turned an MLA in 1991. In 2001, he turned the vice-president of the SC Morcha of the UP BJP and a decade later, he turned its president. As an MP, he was a member of the Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. They have been given the portfolio of MoS (MSMEs).
the one brahmin face
Despite speculations of Jitin Prasad, who had lately left the Congress to hitch the BJP, entered the Union Council of Ministers because the get together’s Brahmin face in UP, the get together selected Lakhimpur Kheri MP Ajay Kumar Mishra. Interestingly, each Mishra and Prasad are residents of the identical space. It was fairly clear that the BJP would make a Brahmin chief from UP a Union minister amidst opposition allegations of alleged atrocities and prejudice towards Brahmins within the state. In truth, when Prasad was within the Congress, he had launched a marketing campaign below the present BJP authorities alleging atrocities on Brahmins within the state.
Mishra, 60, who’s a BJP MP for the primary time, began his political profession as District General Secretary of the BJP. He was elected as MLA from Nighasan meeting seat in 2012 and progressively turned Member of Parliament. He has given a big portfolio of MoS (Home Affairs).
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
