LUCKNOW: BJP vice-president and UP in charge Radha Mohan Singh on Sunday scotched speculations that his meeting with UP governor Anandi Ben Patel had anything to do with cabinet expansion in UP.
Singh, in fact, categorically maintained that cabinet expansion or its reshuffle was a “special prerogative” of the chief minister.
His meeting with UP governor comes almost 10 days after CM Yogi Adityanath met Patel on May 27.
Stressing that his meeting with the UP governor was purely a courtesy call, Singh reiterated that the Yogi government in UP and the BJP organisation in the state was working well and as per the expectations.
His statement silenced the political buzz that started whirling about an immediate cabinet expansion, a day after senior BJP leaders including Singh and party national general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh met party national president JP Nadda in Delhi.
Incidentally Singh and Santhosh, who had camped in Lucknow for three days, to assess the functioning of the party and the state government had strongly backed Yogi’s decisions vis-a-vis Covid pandemic.
This was seen as a key counter to the opposition driven narrative that sought to corner the ruling party over its alleged mismanagement in handling the lethal second wave of pandemic.
While there are 53 ministers, including CM Yogi, there is scope for seven more persons to be inducted in the council of ministers.
UP had, in fact, lost three UP ministers — Chetan Chauhan, Kamal Rani Varun and Vijay Kashyap — to Covid since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.
Their positions too remain vacant.
Sources said that the ruling party may consider inducting key BJP leaders as ministers after assessing its requirement and given the political situation in the run up to UP assembly elections due next year.
Speculations have, typically, been veering around ex-IAS officer-turned-BJP MLC, Arvind Kumar Sharma — considered close to PM Narendra Modi — being inducted in the state cabinet and being given a prominent portfolio.
The speculations, however, have been losing steam as time passes.
Not surprisingly, the political buzz left the UP BJP leadership flummoxed with party state president Swatantra Dev Singh dismissing them as mere rumors which did not hold much ground.
“Nothing other than the rule of law works in the state.
There is no scope for influential people getting favours,” he said, while speaking to reporters.
Singh, too, strongly backed Yogi as one of the most hardworking CMs the state has ever seen in recent times.