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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is likely to expand his cabinet this evening, sources said. Governor Anandiben Patel will also reach Lucknow at 2 pm.

At least seven to eight ministers could be inducted into Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's cabinet. The oath-taking is likely to be held at 5:30 pm in the Raj Bhavan, where preparations are underway.

Sangeeta Bind, Jitin Prasada, Chhatrapal Gangwar, Palturam, Dinesh Khatik, and Krishna Paswan could take oath as ministers in Yogi Adityanath's cabinet.

The expansion will focus on unrepresented castes and political parties.

With 14 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs as ministers, the state now accounts for the largest chunk of cabinet ministers.

At the Centre, the BJP has 84 MPs from Uttar Pradesh-62 in the Lok Sabha and 22 in the Rajya Sabha, while its ally Apna Dal has two.

Importance of expansion

With 14 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs as ministers, the state now accounts for the largest chunk of cabinet ministers.

At the Centre, the BJP has 84 MPs from Uttar Pradesh-62 in the Lok Sabha and 22 in the Rajya Sabha, while its ally Apna Dal has two.

This is the first time that Uttar Pradesh has had such a large representation in the central government. This has partly been explained as a result of the upcoming assembly election in the state.

The 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election is extremely crucial for the BJP as its outcome is likely to set the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The BJP recently suffered a major drubbing in West Bengal despite having pumped in massive political capital and human resource.