UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav allocated portfolios to his council of ministers on Sunday, while retaining about 50 important portfolios, including home, finance, information, higher education, medical education, excise and housing for himself.
The chief minister seems to be in a mood for maintaining status quo since majority of his ministers have been given the same portfolios that they had during the previous Mulayam Singh government.
Mohammed Azam Khan has been given parliamentary affairs, urban development and Muslim waqf while Shivpal Singh Yadav will head PWD and irrigation ministries.
Mr Ahmad Hasan retains his favourite medical and health while Mr Ambica Choudhury gets revenue again and Mr Ram Govind Choudhury returns to head the child development ministry.
Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya is back again as food and civil supplies minister but gets jails as an added bonus.
Mr Abhishek Misra, who was included into the council of ministers at the insistence of the chief minister, will hold the charge of protocol and will be attached to the chief minister.
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Journalists not invited to swearing-in
Age Correspondent
Lucknow, March 18
In an unprecedented move, the media was not invited to cover the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan on Sunday. Invites were sent out to only about a dozen select journalists while all correspondents representing outstation publications and also the majority representing local publications were not invited to the function.
The state information department washed its hands off the situation saying that the invitations were being sent out by Raj Bhawan.
A senior Raj Bhavan official said that all accredited journalist had not been invited due to paucity of space in the Darbar hall of the Raj Bhavan where the swearing-in was held.
The argument obviously does not hold water since most such functions, where all scribes are invited, are usually held in the Darbar hall.
Angry journalists later staged a dharna outside the Raj Bhavan to register their protest but no explanation was forthcoming from the government.