LUCKNOW: SP leader Akhilesh Yadav took oath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday for the first time, after his party gained absolute majority by winning 224 seats in the 403-member assembly.
Akhilesh, 38, is the state's youngest chief minister and his Cabinet is a mix of youth and experience.
though political analysts started reading into the list of invitees, party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said invitations have been sent to almost all the chief ministers and MPs. He denied that leaders of only a select few political parties were being invited for the function. After Akhilesh is sworn in, some recently elected Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs will also be administered the oath of office. In the absence of any specific information over the number of MLAs slated to take oath of office, speculations were rife that the count can be anything between 10 and 20. 'Initially, cabinet will be small'
Party insiders told TOI that only two other senior SP leaders are sure to take oath: Azam Khan and Shivpal Yadav. Over the next few days, the party will deliberate on the final shape and size of the cabinet. While Azam is seen as the Muslim face of SP and has been a colleague of Akhilesh's father Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal is the latter's younger brother. These were the two leaders who had reportedly expressed their displeasure over Akhilesh being made the chief minister primarily because both of them have long political careers and were undoubtedly very senior to Akhilesh in all respects. Both of them later agreed to become a member of the youngest chief minister's cabinet.
Initially the party had planned to shortlist some 20 MLAs to be administered the oath of office along with Akhilesh. However, despite a series of marathon meetings, the party leadership failed to reach a consensus on the top 20 names till late in the evening.
The swearing-in ceremony is slated to take place at 11:30 am after which Akhilesh will directly leave for the CM office at Annexe and later address the media at 5 Kalidas Marg, the official residence of the CM. Hectic preparations were under way at the venue of the swearing-in ceremony where a concrete structure has come up to serve as a stage. The estate department has already allotted a fleet of 7 cars, one ambulance, a wireless/cellphone jammer mobile and escort vehicles that will comprise the initial CM's fleet.
"Our cabinet will be a smaller one to begin with, but let me assure everyone that each and every community and region will find adequate representation in the cabinet which will also be a mix of experienced hands and young first-timers ," Akhilesh told reporters on Wednesday. He, however, refused to comment on the count of MLAs who would take the oath of office along with him. SP workers and leaders from West Bengal and Mumbai had reached Lucknow on Wednesday night.
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