Yogi keeps home, Khanna finance as Pathak gets health, Maurya rural development
Hindustan TimesChief minister Yogi Adityanath will head home, vigilance and appointments among the 34 departments with him, as portfolios of the new BJP-led UP government were announced on Monday. Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya gets rural development and food processing, while another deputy chief minister Brijesh Pathak will lead the health ministry, among others. Leaders of BJP’s two allies -- Nishad party chief Sanjay Nishad has expectedly been made fisheries minister while Ashish Patel, husband of Apna Dal leader and union minister Anupriya Patel, has been allocated technical education portfolio. While senior ministers Suresh Khanna, a nine-term lawmaker, and Surya Pratap Shahi, a fifth-term lawmaker, retained their old portfolios, finance and parliamentary affairs, and agriculture respectively, new faces – former UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev, an OBC, has been made Jal Shakti and flood control minister and Baby Rani Maurya, a Jatav dalit, has been tasked with women and child welfare departments.