In 1st cabinet expansion since his return to power last yr, Yogi inducts a Dalit, a Brahmin & 2 OBCs. Political analysts call it a move to woo respective communities ahead of LS polls.
In the 52-member cabinet, the youngest minister is 30-year-old Sandeep Singh. Among the eldest is Dr Arun Kumar Saxena, a 70-year-old doctor who won from Bareilly for the third time.
Once BSP’s Brahmin face, Brajesh Pathak has replaced Dinesh Sharma as deputy CM, while OBC leader KP Maurya has been retained as Yogi’s other deputy despite poll defeat.
Chauhan's resignation comes a day after fellow minister & OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya’s. An arrest warrant has now been issued against Maurya for alleged hate speech in 2014.
During my fieldwork in UP, I interacted with people from the SC community. BJP’s claims of Dalit outreach appear empty when we look at the latter’s power share.
No nation other than China can negotiate one-on-one with Trump on an equal footing. That’s why the middle powers who so far formed the core of multilateral bodies now feel orphaned.
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