Yogi to take oath as UP CM for 2nd time today

Lucknow: Yogi Adityanath was on Thursday unanimously chosen as the leader of the BJP legislature party in Uttar Pradesh in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. BJP's central observer Raghubar Das, Nishad Party leader Sanjay Nishad, Ashish Patel of the Apna Dal (S) later presented support letters to Governor Anandiben Patel. "Now, the Governor will invite him (Yogi Adityanath) to form the government. We have presented her the support letter," Acting Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma told reporters.

Senior party leader Suresh Kumar Khanna said Adityanath will be meet the Governor "after an hour". The BJP-led 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. Adityanath's swearing-in ceremony will be held on Friday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top BJP leaders. There is, however, no confirmation about names of his deputies and the number of ministers in his second term. The meeting of the newly elected party MLAs was held at Lok Bhawan here in which the name of Adityanath was proposed for the post of the leader of the BJP legislature party by Suresh Kumar Khanna. Baby Rani Maurya, Surya Pratap Shahi and others seconded the proposal. Apna Dal (S) leader Ashish Patel and Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad were present with their MLAs in the meeting. Adityanath said thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party's central observers Shah and Raghubar Das. Adityanath said he had no administrative experience when he became chief minister for the first time but PM Modi and Shah guided him to provide good governance in Uttar Pradesh.

The barrier that was seen in the implementation of schemes of the Centre in the State collapsed in the past five years, he said. "People for the first time felt that houses for the poor could also be built. For the first time, it was felt that money can go directly into the account of the poor," he said. In a state like Uttar Pradesh, festivals can now be celebrated in a peaceful manner, he added. Adityanath said the prime minister's mantra of "sabka saath, sabka vikas" made an impact despite the opposition propaganda.