After local body polls, Yogi prepares for cabinet rejig, big changes likely

With less than a year left for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is planning for a cabinet reshuffle in. The reshuffle will be based on the work done in their departments by the ministers in the past one year and also the performance of party candidates in the constituencies of the ministers in the recent municipal polls.

"Some ministers may be promoted while some senior ones may be shifted for organisational work. The party and the chief minister will decide which minister is more suited for the government or the party. The exercise will rejuvenate the party and the government and ensure that it is fighting fit for the Lok Sabha elections," said a senior party functionary.

BJP sources said that by changing responsibilities of ministers and the state leaders, the party wants to keep the ministers and the organisational leaders consistently on toes. The sources said that the party and the state government have been receiving inputs about some of the ministers and organisational leaders not acting promptly in some of the districts.

"The party is analysing the performance of ministers and legislators in their respective constituencies in the recent municipal polls. The entire data will be shared with the chief minister and other senior leaders after which a decision will be taken regarding cabinet reshuffle," the functionary said.

The Yogi Adityanath government`s decision to reshuffle his cabinet marks the beginning of the much-anticipated change in the government and party structure ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Party sources said that some high-profile ministers who had failed to perform may be shifted to organisational posts in the party and new blood will be inducted in the government.

In view of his own excellent performance, the chief minister is likely to be given greater freedom in choosing which ministers are to be dropped and which one should be promoted.

This, incidentally, will be the first cabinet reshuffle of the Yogi government after it returned to power in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Those ministers who have failed to counter the opposition campaign against the BJP on various issues, will be on the firing line, said sources.

The sources further said that the state government had been planning changes in responsibilities of the ministers after the BJP lost Khatauli Assembly seat and failed to breach the SP bastion of Mainpuri in the bypolls held last year. The BJP, at the same time, continues to consider Azamgarh and Rampur as the challenging political terrain, despite it wresting the two constituencies from the Samajwadi Party in the bye-elections.