E-Paper
Series of meetings, Uttarakhand rejig rekindle Uttar Pradesh cabinet expansion buzz
Around half-a-dozen vacant cabinet berths may be filled to address regional and caste arithmetic ahead of the 2027 UP assembly elections
Prefer HTon Google
Back-to-back meetings involving BJP and RSS leaders—one at chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s residence in Lucknow on Friday – and the induction of new faces in the Uttarakhand cabinet have rekindled the buzz that the long-pending cabinet expansion and the party’s organisational rejig in Uttar Pradesh are likely to happen soon. Both Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are slated to go to assembly polls simultaneously in 2027.
Besides Adityanath, those present at the high-level coordination meeting held at the chief minister’s residence included senior RSS functionary Arun Kumar (who holds the position of Sah Sarkaryawah or joint general secretary and is a key coordinator between the RSS and the BJP), deputy chief ministers Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya, state BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary, and state general secretary (organisation) Dharampal Singh.
Sources suggest that around half-a-dozen vacant cabinet berths in UP may be filled to address regional and caste arithmetic ahead of the assembly elections in the state. The BJP’s central leadership has already cleared names and only a formal announcement is awaited, sources added.
The Uttar Pradesh government is also expected to resume appointments to commissions, corporations and the party to step up organisational restructuring ahead of 2027.
Party insiders said the timing of the expansion in UP will be crucial in fine-tuning electoral strategy.
“From the Awadh region, a Kurmi or Pasi leader is likely to be accommodated. From western UP, the induction of former state BJP president Bhupendra Chaudhary is seen as almost certain. A Samajwadi Party (SP) rebel and Brahmin leader from Rae Bareli is also considered a strong contender and so is a woman MLA, also from the SP, for a ministerial berth,” a senior BJP leader said.
For his part, Arun Kumar also held a closed-door meeting with the RSS office bearers at the Vishwa Samvad Kendra in the state capital’s Jiamau area, taking feedback about the political scenario in the state.
The coordination meeting at the chief minister’s residence followed in the evening.
The coordination committee and core group meetings were largely aimed at reviewing feedback received from recent regional coordination committee meetings, with issues related to complaints about bureaucratic responsiveness and corruption figuring prominently in the discussions.
Sources said inputs gathered from six regional meetings attended by the CM personally highlighted concerns among party workers about officials not listening to public representatives, delays in grievance redressal, and instances of alleged corruption at the field level.
The deliberations also covered organisational preparedness, with BJP state president Pankaj Chaudhary reiterating the plan to fill vacancies in party bodies, corporations, commissions and boards by the end of March. The issue of a possible cabinet expansion is also believed to have been discussed during the meetings.
The chief minister has called a Cabinet meeting on Monday.
According to BJP leaders, Arun Kumar came to Lucknow with feedback from the six regional RSS meetings convened recently.
According to a senior BJP leader, one of the primary objectives of these meetings is to reorganise the district units of the UP BJP and to finalise the composition of the new team.
According to BJP leaders, it was also decided that the minister in-charge of the district will take up the bigger issues with the state government.
Ahead of the polls, the RSS has intensified its activities in the state with regular visits from senior office bearers.
The central focus for both the Sangh and the BJP is to transform the organisation into a “lean and fit” machinery operating on a “war footing” for the assembly elections.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was in the state capital last month. He held separate meetings with RSS leaders, chief minister Yogi Adityanath and intellectuals.
Earlier in the day, Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expanded his cabinet, with five MLAs taking oath as ministers at the Lok Bhavan in Dehradun.
With the induction of the new ministers -- Khazan Das, Bharat Singh Chaudhary, Madan Kaushik, Pradeep Batra, and Ram Singh Kaida -- the Uttarakhand cabinet has reached its maximum strength of 12.
