UP ,24/3: Yogi Adityanath, who led the BJP to a massive victory in the recently concluded Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, was on Thursday unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party paving the way for his appointment as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for the second consecutive term.
Union home minister Amit Shah, who was present at the meeting of the newly elected BJP and its alliance partners’ MLAs as observer, announced the election of Adityanath as leader of the party’s legislature group. Former Jharkhand chief minister and senior saffron party leader Raghubar Das was also present as a co-observer.
Adityanath would be administered oath of office and secrecy on Friday. It was not yet clear how many ministers would take oath with him, though sources said that the names of the prospective ministers from the BJP and its alliance partners Apna Dal and Nishad Party had been finalised in consultation with the central leadership of the party.
The name of Adityanath, who was elected as an MLA from Gorakhpur City assembly seat, was proposed by senior party leader Suresh Kumar Khanna and it was supported by all the newly elected MLAs of the BJP, AD and Nishad Party.
Adityanath, after being elected leader of the legislature group, drove to the Raj Bhavan and handed the list of 273 MLAs to governor Anandiben Patel and staked a claim to form the government.
Speaking after his election as leader of the party’s legislature group, Adityanath credited the victory of the party in the polls to Modi and said that he would strive to fulfil the promises made to the people and implement the manifesto of the party.
Adityanath, who would be the first chief minister to return for the second term in the state in the past 36 years, would take oath as CM at the sprawling Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ikana Stadium at a grand ceremony, which would be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others.
Many senior ministers in the Modi cabinet, chief ministers of the BJP-ruled states, Bollywood personalities, industrialists and BJP workers and leaders from all the Assembly constituencies would attend the ceremony. According to the sources, the team of the movie The Kashmir Files has also been invited to attend the function.
Prominent leaders of the Congress, including Lok Sabha member Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and others had also been sent the invites to attend the ceremony, though it was highly unlikely that any of them would be there. Akhilesh had already made it clear that he would not be attending the ceremony even if invited.