With campaigning for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections gradually gathering momentum, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday finally allocated portfolios to six Ministers, two months after they were elevated to Cabinet rank. One of the six — Labour and Employment Minister Shahid Manzoor — is contesting the polls from Meerut.
Portfolios were also allotted to two Ministers of State.
Manoj Kumar Pandey, the MLA from Unchahar who earlier held the Religious Endowment portfolio, has been made the Agriculture, Agriculture Education, Agriculture Research Minister. The portfolio was earlier held by Anand Singh. Mr. Pandey is considered close to Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh and was recently appointed the president of the party’s intellectual wing (the Samajwadi Party Prabuddha Sabha).
While Gayatri Prasad Prajapati has been elevated as Geology and Mining Minister, Iqbal Mahmood has been given the Secondary Education portfolio, and Mahboob Ali the Fisheries and Public Enterprises MinistryRaniganj (Pratapgarh district) MLA Shivakant Ojha, who was also inducted into the Cabinet in January, has been made the Technical Education Minister.
Besides, Fareed Mahfooz Kidwai has been made the Minister of State for Forest and Yasser Shah — the son of the former Labour and Employment Minister Waqar Ahmed Shah — the Minister of State for Energy.
