Lucknow: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yogi Adityanath was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh today, as Governor Ram Naik administered the oath of office and secrecy to Adityanath and his Cabinet at a function in Lucknow's Kanshiram memorial ground in the afternoon.
State BJP President Keshav Prasad Maurya and the party's National Vice-President Dinesh Sharma are the new Deputy Chief Ministers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Party President Amit Shah and Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled States attended the ceremony.
Maurya on Sunday said he had no issues with Adityanath being chosen as CM.
"I have been entrusted with responsibility of Deputy CM. I will work on law and order situation," he stressed.
Another firebrand Hindutva leader, Uma Bharti, said that Adityanath would focus on development and nationalism.
"For me Modi ji being the PM of India, and my younger brother Yogi ji becoming UP CM is the best news of the 21st century," she claimed.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the lone Muslim minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, on Saturday defended the BJP's choice of controversial leader Yogi Adityanath as the next UP chief minister, saying he will work for the party's "inclusive growth" agenda.
Minister of State for Minority Affairs Naqvi said that Adityanath will prove his critics wrong by his developmental work and will emerge as the best chief minister.
Rejecting apprehensions of Adityanath being a hardline Hindutva leader, Naqvi said he was a "hardline leader of inclusive development".
Naqvi said Adityanath will prove all political pundits and analysts who have concerns regarding him "wrong".
BJP national secretary Siddarth Nath Singh played down Yogi's hardline Hindutva image. "That image may be with media but he (Adityanath) has been elected again and again. He stands for development and that is the agenda we have got and we will will stick to the agenda," Siddharth Nath Singh told reporters soon after the Gorakhpur MP's election as the BJP legislature party leader.
Adityanath visited Smriti Upwan in Lucknow ahead of his oath taking ceremony on Sunday, but cancelled a planned visit to Gorakhpur.
Yogi Adityanath, a five-time Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur, was unanimously elected BJP Legislature Party leader at a meeting of the newly-elected MLAs in Lucknow last evening. He, later, met the Governor and staked claim to form the government in the state.
Talking to reporters at Raj Bhavan, he said, he would follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi's slogan 'Sab ka saath, Sab ka vikas' and ensure all round development of the state.
Senior party leader and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who was the central observer at the Legislature Party meeting, said it was a watershed moment for the BJP and it has become a common man's party. He said, the mandate is for development, and against corruption and black money.
But the Opposition Congress, the CPI(M) and AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi have crossed swords with BJP for the decision.
In the recently held polls in the state, BJP had bagged 312 seats, and its allies 13, taking the alliance's tally to 325 in the 403-member Assembly.
Meanwhile, Adityanath has called on his followers and admirers to maintain law and order during their celebrations, while giving full freedom to the state police to take action on those who create ruckus.
"There should be no chaos in the name of celebrations. Police must deal swiftly and firmly with miscreants," he said.
Following the Chief Minister designate's orders, all the District Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) have been called to ensure law and order is maintained.
