Swatantra Dev Singh, the Transport Minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP,) on the 18th of August, submitted his resignation.
Singh’s decision to resign as a cabinet minister from the Yogi Adityanath led Government came after he was appointed the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in UP.
The BJP, in July 2019, appointed Swantantra Dev Singh as the President of the BJP. According to the principle of ‘one man, one post,’ Swantantra can hold only one position at a time, due to which, he resigned as a cabinet minister.
Chief Minister Yogi accepted the resignation of Swantantra Dev Singh on the night of the 18th of August. After the resignation of Swantantra, the strength of the UP Cabinet fell to 42 members.
As of now, the UP Government has 42 ministers, including 21 Cabinet Ministers, 8 Ministers of State (MoS) with independent charge and 13 ministers of State. Eighteen posts are still vacant in the UP Cabinet.
The decision of Swatantra Dev Singh came before Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to expand the UP Government.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is scheduled to expand his Government on the evening of the 19th of August.
Yogi Adityanath, on the 17th of August, met Anandiben Patel, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and sought approval for the expansion of his Government in the State. He also directed the ministers not to leave Lucknow for the reshuffling of the Cabinet on the 19th of August.
The State Government decided to reshuffle the ministers and expand the Government so that they can induct the newly elected Members of Parliament (MPs) who won the Lok Sabha elections, 2019.
According to sources, the expansion may be postponed due to the critical condition of Arun Jaitley, the former Finance Minister of India.
However, an official announcement regarding the postponement of the expansion is yet to come.
Stay tuned for further updates.
