Governor Aanandi ben cancels her MP trip: Rumours rife of shuffle in Yogi cabinet

GG News Bureau
Lucknow,27th May. With the cancellation of the Madhya Pradesh trip of the governor Uttar Pradesh Aanandi Patel, the rumours are rife of shuffle in the Yogi cabinet in the political parlance of Uttar Pradesh.
According to the sources, the governor will meet the CM Yogi Adityanath later in the evening in wake of these fresh political developments and the possibility of a reshuffle in the cabinet amid the Covid pandemic has increased.
The talks of a reshuffle in the Yogi government and the state BJP organisation had gone viral on social media recently and it seems that all such rumours could come true. The reason behind this is that Governor Aanandi Ben Patel has cancelled her visit to Madhya Pradesh and reached Lucknow. She is currently holding a meeting with officials in Lucknow and is likely to meet the chief minister on Thursday evening.
After the cancellation of the governor’s visit to Madhya Pradesh, it is being speculated that preparations have begun for the second cabinet expansion of the UP government. Notably, the Governor was in Madhya Pradesh for 15 days and with her arrival in Lucknow the talks of reshuffle and expansion have again gained momentum and the people in the political circle are keeping their fingers crossed on whether the cabinet will take place between May 28th or 29th. The rumours were rife that Uttar Pradesh could get a new deputy CM before the Vidhan Sabha elections and IAS A Sharma is the front runner for the post. The BJP organisation is likely to go to the next election with an OBC face in which Keshav Maurya fits as the front runner candidate.
It may be recalled that after the formation of the government on March 19, 2017, the Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh had expanded the cabinet on August 22, 2019. During that time, he had 56 members in his cabinet. Out of which three ministers have died of Covid. Minister of State Vijay Kumar Kashyap had recently died while minister Chetan Chauhan and minister Kamala Rani Varun passed away during the first wave. According to the rule, the maximum number of cabinet ministers in UP could be up to 60. Earlier, 6 independent charge ministers were sworn in as cabinet ministers in the cabinet expansion. Six independent charge ministers were sworn in with 3 new faces, and 11 MLAs were given a place in the Uttar Pradesh government.
At present, the Yogi government has 23 Ministers, 9 Independent Charge Ministers and 22 Ministers of State in the Cabinet. There are currently a total of 54 ministers in the UP government, for which 6 ministerial posts are still vacant that can be increased. The BJP’s concern over next year’s assembly elections has increased since the defeat in the panchayat elections in UP. There are only eight months left for the state assembly elections and the party is planning to come up with extensive reforms to be made in the government and the organization. That is why the expansion discussion and surfacing repeatedly.