UP cabinet expansion paves the way for rejig of portfolios

Lucknow: The Yogi cabinet will soon see a rejig of portfolios with the induction of eight ministers, including promotion of two MOS, in the council of ministers earlier this week..

Besides Bhupendra Chaudhary and Manoj Pandey, who have been inducted as cabinet ministers, portfolios have to be sorted out for two promoted ministers of state (MOS) — Ajeet Pal and Somendra Tomar — who have been made MOS with independent charge.

Pal held the charge of IT and electronics department while Tomar was the junior minister for energy and additional sources. Their departments will now be allocated to two MOS from the four newly inducted MOS — Krishna Paswan, Kailash Rajput, Surendra Diler and Hans Raj Vishwakarma.

In the existing list of 21 cabinet ministers, Yogi holds the charge of 34 departments, including home, PWD, housing and urban planning, revenue and state taxes.

Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya is the cabinet minister for rural development, overall village department, food processing, entertainment tax and public enterprises and national integration.

Deputy CM Prajesh Pathak holds the medical portfolio, including medical education, medical and health and family welfare.

Among other cabinet ministers with multiple portfolios is Suresh Khanna who heads finance and parliamentary departments.

Bureaucrat-turned-politician AK Sharma helms two key departments of urban development and energy. Jaiveer Singh is the cabinet minister for both tourism and culture.

Among BJP allies, SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar is the cabinet minister of panchayati raj, minority welfare, Muslim waqf and haj. Similarly, Apna Dal (S) leader Ashish Patel holds the charge of technical education, consumer protection and weights and measures.

Among the MOS (independent charge) holding multiple charges include Narendra Kashyap, who is heading both backward class welfare as well as divyangjan empowerment. Likewise, Dinesh Pratap Singh has with him departments like horticulture and agriculture marketing, agriculture foreign trade and agricultural exports.

So is the case with Dayashankar Mishra Dayalu, who holds the charge of both -- department of Ayush and department of Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA).

In the case of MOS, Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh holds the charge of parliamentary affairs, medical education, medical and health, family welfare, mother and child welfare. Likewise, Jaswant Saini is MOS for both parliamentary affairs and industrial development.

Sources said the delayed allocation of portfolios in the expanded cabinet is less an administrative lag and more a signal of a carefully calibrated political and governance exercise ahead of the 2027 UP Assembly elections.