The BJP added to its political muscle in Uttar Pradesh Sunday as four of the 21 new ministers sworn in at the maiden cabinet expansion of the Narendra Modi government hail from the state.
These four ministers are Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Mahesh Sharma, Ram Shankar Katheria and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.
Technically speaking, another name can be added to this list as former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar will file his nomination from Uttar Pradesh Monday for the Rajya Sabha.
The prime minister, home minister and seven other union ministers in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led NDA government now represent Uttar Pradesh constituencies.
The state, which sent 71 BJP lawmakers to the Lok Sabha, was suitably rewarded when the government took office at the Centre in May.
The tally further improved with Sunday's expansion as four ministers - one of cabinet rank and three of minister of state - have been included in the government.
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Party insiders say this was a signal to the Samajwadi Party government in the state that the BJP was watching the state "closely and seriously" despite the recent reverses in the bypolls.
"Uttar Pradesh is at the centre of the future plans of the party and whatever is being done or will be done will be in sync with the aim of it winning back..." says a member of the state executive.
Modi is an MP from Varanasi, union Home Minister Rajnath Singh represents Lucknow, Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Kalraj Mishra is from Deoria, and Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti is also an MP from the state.
Among others who represent various state constituencies are Sanjeev Baliyan, Gen (Retd.) V.K. Singh, Maneka Gandhi, Santosh Gangwar and Manoj Sinha.
Party's state unit spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said by inducting four new ministers from Uttar Pradesh, the prime minister has signalled the state's importance.
Party leaders are upbeat at induction and say that while the young blood and experience has been amalgamated, caste matrix has also been taken care of.
The ministers are now evenly distributed across the state. Regions such as Bundelkhand, western UP, Poorvanchal, Rohelkhand and central UP have all found representation in Uma Bharti (Jhansi), V.K. Singh (Ghaziabad), Maneka Gandhi (Pilibhit), Ram Shankar Katheria (Agra), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur), Mahesh Sharma (Noida) and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (Rampur).
Kalraj Mishra and Mahesh Sharma are Brahmins, while Uma Bharti, Jyoti and Gangwar are from the OBC, and Katheria belongs to the scheduled castes, and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is a Muslim.
(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)