UP govt will write another new chapter of progress: PM Modi

Lucknow, Mar 25: The Yogi Adityanath government in its fresh term will write another new chapter of progress in Uttar Pradesh while fulfilling people's aspirations, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

Congratulating Adityanath and his ministerial colleagues on taking oath, Modi said the state's development journey marked several important milestones in his government's first five years.

Adityanath on Friday took oath as Uttar Pradesh chief minister for the second term in a mega ceremony attended by Prime Minister Modi and top BJP leaders. Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak were sworn in as deputy chief ministers along with 50 ministers with cabinet and state ranks.

The swearing-in ceremony was held at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium, the venue having the capacity to accommodate 50,000 people.

Suresh Khanna, Surya Pratap Sahi, Swatandra Dev Singh, Baby Rani Maurya and IAS-turned politician A K Sharma were administered oath as cabinet ministers. BJP ally Ashish Patel of Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD party chief Sanjay Nishad also took given oath as cabinet ministers. Jitin Prasada, who had quit the Congress to join the BJP just ahead of the polls, made it to the state cabinet.

Danish Azad Ansari has been made a minister of state. He is the lone Muslim face in the Adityanath government.

IPS-turned politician Aseem Arun, Daya Shakar Singh, Nitin Agarwal and Kalyan Singh's grandson Sandip Singh have been made ministers of state (independent charge).

The BJP-led alliance had won 273 of 403 seats in the just-concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. While the BJP got 255 seats, its allies Nishad Party and the Apna Dal (S) bagged 18.

with PTI inputs