The Bharatiya Janata Party has elected 44-year-old five-term Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur constituency Yogi Adityanath as their legislature party leader at a meeting of the newly elected MLAs in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. The State will also have two Deputy Chief Ministers, UP BJP Chief Keshav Prasad Maurya and Lucknow Mayor Dr Dinesh Sharma.
Swearing-in ceremony of Yogi as the Chief Minister will be held at 2.15 PM at the Smriti Upvan on Sunday. Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting M Venkaiah Naidu and National General Secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Bhupendra Yadav were present at the meeting as observers.
“The decision to appoint Yogi Adityanath was unananimous,” said Naidu after the meeting. His name was proposed at the meeting by senior legislator Suresh Khanna and all the MLAs stood up in support and did not recommend another name, he added.
Speaking to the press after staking claim to form the government before Governor Ram Naik, Yogi Adityanath said that he is confident that he will be able to face the challenge of governing the state. He said that he will be able to promote Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda of Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas, in the State.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also said to have put his stamp on the appointments of Yogi Adityanath, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dr Dinesh Sharma, and will attend the swearing-in ceremony.
Union ministers, senior party leaders and Chief Ministers from BJP and NDA led states including Andhra Pradesh, Nagaland and Jammu and Kashmir are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
It is to be noted that the BJP has won 312 seats in the 403-member State Assembly. Its allies got 13 seats.