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Baby Rani Maurya, ex-Uttarakhand governor, a key Dalit face in new Yogi cabinet
Baby Rani Maurya belongs to the Jatav community, to which Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also belongs. It is believed that the BJP fielded Maurya with an intention to woo Jatav voters into its fold.
Former Uttarakhand governor and the Bharatiya Janata Party's prominent Dalit woman leader Baby Rani Maurya was among the ministers who took oath along with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath at Lucknow's Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
The 65-year-old BJP leader is among the five women ministers inducted into the Yogi Adityanath cabinet. Gulab Devi, Pratibha Shukla, Rajani Tiwari, and Vijay Laxmi Gautam are the other women ministers in the cabinet.
Here's all you need to know about Maurya, who according to political pundits is expected to be assigned a crucial portfolio.
> Like Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, Maurya too belongs to the Jatav community. It is believed that the BJP had fielded her in the polls with a game plan to woo Jatav voters, who are considered to be loyal voters of the BSP.
> Maurya joined the BJP in 1995, becoming the mayor of Agra and served till 2010. She holds a considerable influence in the city of Taj, which was once considered a BSP bastion.
> Baby Rani Maurya served as the member of the State Social Welfare Board in 2001 and later as the member of the National Commission for Women (NCW) in 2002.
> In August 2018, she took charge as the Uttarakhand governor and succeeded Krishan Kant Paul. She is the second woman governor of the state after Margaret Alva. She resigned from her post in September 2021.
> In the 2022 Assembly elections, Baby Rani Maurya won the Agra Rural seat by defeating Kiran Prabha Keshari of the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Yogi Adityanath took oath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second straight term in Lucknow. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, BJP president JP Nadda were among the topp BJP leaders who attended the grand event.
