Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister-designate Yogi Adityanath will be sworn in on Sunday afternoon, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said in Lucknow Saturday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah are expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony here, Naidu told reporters.
BJP state chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and Lucknow Mayor Dinesh Sharma will be sworn in as deputy chief ministers.
Earlier, in a move that surprised many, the 44-year-old five-term MP from Gorakhpur was elected the BJP legislature party leader at a meeting of the newly elected MLAs, a week after the BJP won a resounding three-fourth majority in the key Hindi heartland state, making a comeback to power after 15 years.
Maurya, who was himself in contention for the top job, first announced Adityanath’s election.
Maurya, the MP from Phulpur in Allahabad, will be the deputy chief minister apart from senior BJP leader Dinesh Sharma.
Later, addressing the media, Naidu, who along with BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav was present at the meeting as central observer for the election, said that Adityanath’s name was proposed by Suresh Khanna, an 8-term MLA, and seconded by 10 others.
Naidu said even after the proposal was made, he asked the 312 newly elected MLAs if they wanted to propose anybody else for the post, but they all backed Adityanath unanimously.
Naidu said the Yogi then said he needed two deputy CMs to assist him in the gigantic task, following which it was decided that Maurya and Sharma would hold the posts.
As the meeting was about to begin, an element of surprise gripped the venue when Adityanath reached Lok Bhawan opposite the imposing Assembly complex.
Midway through the meeting, Sharma was asked to attend the deliberations.
Interestingly, none of the three is a legislator in Uttar Pradesh.
As soon as it was decided that the saffron-robed Gorakhpur MP will hold the reins of the state, party leaders and MLAs rushed to the dais with sweets and garlands.
Adityanath will be the 21st chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the fourth from the saffron party.
Adityanath has had a strained relation with the BJP for more than a decade. With the emergence of a separate power base in eastern Uttar Pradesh, he has been seeking greater power, causing further conflicts.
In December 2006, Adityanath had organised a three-day Virat Hindu Mahasammelan at Gorakhpur, during the same period when the BJP was holding its National Executive Meet in Lucknow. The 2007 elections saw a conflict between Adityanath and the BJP leadership — he wanted more than hundred seats in this region to go to candidates selected by him, but the party leadership would not agree.
Subsequently, a compromise agreement was reached, possibly with inputs from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and eight of his candidates were fielded. In March 2010, Adityanath was one of several BJP MPs who started the defiance to the party whip on the Women’s Reservation Bill.
Adityanath is the Mahant (head priest) of the Gorakhnath Mutt, a Hindu temple in Gorakhpur, following the death of his spiritual “father”, Mahant Avaidyanath in September 2014. Though known more for his rightist Hindu politics, it is to his credit that people in Gorakhpur, especially around the temple, hold him in high esteem irrespective of whichever caste or community they belong to.
Even Muslims around the temple are given protection by the Yogi. He is also the founder of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a social, cultural and nationalist group of youth who seek to provide rightist Hindu platform. Yogi Adityanath comes from a Rajput family. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Science from Uttarakhand.
