Yogi Adityanath cabinet ignores Agra despite winning all 9 Assembly seats in the district
Several senior leaders from the region have been given "insignificant" portfolios in the new government.
When the BJP created history by winning all the nine Assembly seats in the Agra district, people of Agra hoped that the party would reward them by giving a ministerial berth to at least one of their MLAs.
The Braj region was expecting a significant representation in Yogi Adityanath's cabinet given that Mathura MLA Shrikant Sharma was even considered a prime contender for the top job in the state.
However, the manner in which the entire Braj region has been ignored in the UP cabinet has taken aback the voters.
- Senior BJP leader from the region Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary has been given the charge of dairy development, religious works and culture, and minority welfare.
- Mathura BJP leader Bhagwan Singh Chahar said giving a portfolio like dairy development to a senior BJP leader like Laxmi Narayan is not agreeable.
- Tundla MLA S P Singh Baghel, the BJP's OBC face in the region, has been made in-charge of fisheries and animal husbandry departments. According to sources, Baghel was expecting a more important portfolio than what has been given to him by Yogi Adityanath.
- Bhagwan Singh Chahar said in Agra and Aligarh divisions, voters gave 25 out of the 30 seats to the BJP but got disappointment in return.
- Local BJP leaders believe that in the absence of significant representation in the cabinet, the Braj region will have to depend on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for any development.
- Notably, Agra had several cabinet and MoS-level ministers in the previous Akhilesh Yadav government. In Yogi Adityanath's cabinet, leaders from Braj have been given junior ministries. Aligarh MLA Sandeep Singh has been given an MoS portfolio in the education department.
- Agra Tourist Welfare Chamber secretary Vishal Sharma said that given Agra's stature as an international tourist city, it would have helped if one of the nine MLAs from the district was given the tourism portfolio.
- Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who joined the BJP from the Congress ahead of the Assembly election, is the tourism minister of the state.
- Under the previous government, Agra saw considerable development as the cabinet consisted of several leaders from the region. It remains to be seen if the new government betters the record despite negligible representation from the region in the cabinet.
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