 "Akhilesh Yadav re-inducts sacked minister into cabinet")
Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav re-inducted sacked minister Gayatri Prasad Prajapati into the state cabinet.
Under the current regime, this was Prajapati's fourth entry in the state council of ministers. On September 12, the controversial leader was sacked along with his cabinet colleague Raj Kishore Singh.
Yesterday, social activist Nutun Thakur had met Governor Ram Naik to oppose the re-induction of Prajapati in the state council of ministers, since he was facing grave corruption charges.
However, Naik contended that under Constitutional provisions, while he was bound to accept the advice of the chief minister in this regard, yet he would seek legal advice on the removal of Prajapati and his subsequent reentry. Later, Akhilesh had also called upon Naik and discussed the proposed cabinet expansion.
Meanwhile, Akhilesh in total inducted four new ministers and promoted six others on Monday. The new cabinet ministers are Prajapati, Shivakant Ojha, Manoj Kumar Pandey and Ziauddin Rizvi.
The Governor administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new cabinet ministers at Raj Bhawan in the presence of ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and SP state President Shivpal Singh Yadav.
More From This Section
Three ministers of state (independent charges) for transport Yasar Shah, fisheries and public enterprise Riyaz Ahmed and family welfare Ravidas Mehrotra have been promoted to cabinet rank.
Others promoted to cabinet rank comprised minister of state for vocational education and skill development Abhishek Mishra, minister of state for social welfare and SC/ST Narendra Verma and minister of state for health and family welfare Sankh Lal Manjhi.
However, the government dropped minister of state for food and civil supplies Pappu Nishad to accommodate new entrants in the council of ministers.
Shivakant Ojha and Manoj Kumar Pandey have been anointed ministers for the second time after removal from the council of ministers.