Rajbhar, Chauhan may find a berth in Yogi's council of ministers soon

Lucknow: The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government is preparing for a cabinet expansion to accommodate new entrants into the alliance and party.

The date will be finalised after Tuesday’s meeting of the NDA.

Dara Singh Chauhan, who recently resigned from the Ghosi Assembly seat and the Samajwadi Party (SP), joined the BJP on Monday.

Chauhan was cabinet minister in Yogi government’s first term and quit the BJP, a few days before the Assembly polls 2022 to join the SP.

He is a likely entrant into the council of ministers.

Meanwhile, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party's (SBSP) Om Prakash Rajbhar could also be back in the Yogi government as minister.

Rajbhar, too, had joined hands with SP to contest the 2022 Assembly polls.

The SBSP won six seats, which also included Mau, won by mafia don Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari.

Rajbhar, however was not comfortable with “Akhilesh style of politics” and began attacking the SP chief.

This made one thing clear that Rajbhar was no longer comfortable with the SP and was keen to return to NDA.

The BJP, on the other hand, though won the second term in succession with a comfortable majority, what made the party managers uncomfortable was fact that despite winning 255 seats, it failed to perform well in districts like Mau, Ghazipur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, and parts of Ballia.

An analysis of the results revealed that Rajbhar’s shift in allegiance to the SP brought huge loss to the party in four to five eastern districts.

The SBSP chief also had an inkling that going into Lok Sabha polls without a suitable alliance was no alternative hence even he was eager to return to the NDA.

Party sources said that deliberations were already underway to shift some ministers to the organisation and bring in new members to strike a balance in regional and caste representation.

There are 52 ministers in Uttar Pradesh, including the Chief Minister, while there is room for eight more ministers.