Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday expanded his cabinet, inducting four ministers—two from the BJP and one each from SBSP and RLD.
SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, RLD's Anil Kumar and BJP leaders Dara Singh Chauhan and Sunil Kumar Sharma were sworn-in as ministers by Governor Anandiben Patel at the Raj Bhavan in the presence of the chief minister.
This is the first cabinet expansion in Adityanath's second term as chief minister.
Rajbhar is an MLA from Zahoorabad assembly constituency of the Ghazipur district, Anil Kumar represents Purkazi (SC) in Muzaffarnagar.
Sharma represents Sahibabad assembly constituency in Ghaziabad district while Chauhan, who returned to the saffron party after a stint with the Samajwadi Party last year, is a member of the UP Legislative Council.
The cabinet expansion is seen to be an attempt by the BJP to consolidate its position in several regions of the state ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
With the induction of new ministers, the strength of UP council of ministers increased to 56.
