UP cabinet expansion: 10 ministers take oath, Prajapati re-inducted

Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik on Monday administered oath of office and secrecy to ten ministers raising the total number of ministers to 60. This is the eighth expansion of Akhilesh Cabinet since he took office in 2012. Ten Ministers including Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, Shivkant Ojha, Manoj Pandey, Abhishek Mishra, Ziauddin Rizvi and Raj Kishore were included in the Cabinet. In the total , three ministers are those who were re-inducted. Four new faces have also joined while three others were promoted. One minister of state Laxmikant Nishad has been dropped.

Ziauddin Rizvi took the oath today as he was abroad when the cabinet witnessed expansion last time.

Social activist Nutan Thakur opposed Prajapati's re-induction

Prajapati’s re-induction, however, was opposed by social activist, Nutan Thakur, who had petitioned the Governor Ram Naik against making him the minister again.

In her petition, Nutan had stated that Prajapati should not be considered in the cabinet again as he had been removed from his portfolio on serious corruption charges after the order of the Allahabad High Court for a CBI probe.

The social activist said, “Today, when I met the Governor personally and he told me that though as per Constitution he is bound by the aid and advice of the chief minister, yet he will take legal advice at least on seeking a report on why was Prajapati first removed as minister and why he is being reappointed.”

Prajapati had been appointed as the Minister of Mines in Akhilesh government and was recently removed from the Cabinet over allegations of promoting illegal mining.

Also Read: CBI probe in to Illegal Mining: Akhilesh engages in damage control