Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh chief minister-designate Akhilesh Yadav’s council of ministers, according to sources, will be a healthy mix of “experience and youth”.
According to sources, the young chief minister-designate has made it clear that his council of ministers will include a number of young faces and also those with clean backgrounds.
Senior Samajwadi leaders like Mohammed Azam Khan and Shivpal Singh Yadav will hold important portfolios in the ministry. Both have turned down offers to play a role outside the government and will now be a part of the ministry.
Other senior SP leaders likely to be made ministers include Dr Waqar Ahmad Shah, Mr Vishambhar Nishad, Mr Ahmad Hasan, Mr Ram Govind Choudhury and Mr Rajendra Choudhury, who has effectively played the role of party spokesman.
Among the young faces likely to be inducted into the council of ministers are Abhishek Misra, (a former faculty member at IIM Ahmedabad who gave up his job to contest elections), Mohammed Rehan, Nitin Agarwal, and Tej Narain Pandey, who wrested the Ayodhya seat from the BJP after almost 22 years.
The party’s choice for Speaker now rests on former Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey after Mr M. Azam Khan turned down the offer.
Another prospective candidate for Speaker is Dr Waqar Ahmad Shah, and in case Dr Shah agrees to take up this post, his son, Mr Yasar Shah, will be given a place in the council of ministers.