Ex-Congress colleagues Tewari, Chaturvedi wish Jitin Prasada on getting UP cabinet post

Reacting to Jitin Prasada's inclusion into the UP cabinet, his ex-colleagues - Congress MP Manish Tewari and Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Sunday, congratulated him. Wondering what turned him towards the BJP, Tewari pointed out that Prasada represented a generational change in Congress from 2004-2014, like Jyotiraditya Scindia. 7 new ministers were inducted into the UP cabinet months ahead of 2022 state elections.

Tewari & Chaturvedi wish Prasada

On Sunday, the Yogi Adityanath cabinet expanded his state cabinet inducting seven new ministers - Jitin Prasada, Paltu Ram, Chhatrapal Singh Gangwar, Sanjeev Kumar, Sangita Balwant, Dharmvir Singh and Dinesh Khatik, taking the cabinet strength to 60. With caste equation in mind, Yogi inducted three SC ministers -  Sanjeev Kumar, Dinesh Khateek and Paltu Ram, three OBC ministers - Dharmvir Singh, Dr Sangita Balwant, Chatrapal Gangwar and the Brahmin face - Jitin Prasada. BJP also nominated 4 leaders - Sanjay Nishad, Gopal Anjan Bhurji, Virendra Gurjar and Jitin Prasada to the legislative council.

Previously in June, rumours of cabinet expansion flew after BJP UP in-charge Radha Mohan Singh met with Governor Anandiben Patel, but he refuted any such expansion. Later Prasada, who heads the Brahmin Chetna Manch and has often claimed that the Brahmin community has been “systematically targeted", was inducted into the BJP as Yogi's 'Brahmin face'. The 48-year-old former Union Minister is the second Rahul aide after Jyotiraditya Scindia to join BJP in recent years.

Prasada was previously made AICC in-charge for the West Bengal Assembly polls in which his party was wiped out. Incidentally, Prasada is one of the  23 senior leaders who had written to interim-chief Sonia Gandhi seeking 'structural changes' in the Congress, for which he faced stiff opposition from UP Congress. Prasada lost to BJP's Rekha Verma from Dhaurahra not just in 2014 but also in 2019.

UP Polls 2022

With BJP fighting under the leadership of incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath, several fronts have cropped up to challenge the ruling BJP. While Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj has allied with AIMIM, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party; parties like AAP, Shiv Sena, Azad Samaj Party and JDU have announced that they will be contesting for the UP polls. SP chief Akhilesh Singh Yadav has stated that SP will only ally with smaller political parties for the 2022 Assembly polls, holding talks with Mahan Dal, NCP. Mayawati has already announced that her party will fight polls alone in UP and Uttarakhand, while allying only with Akali Dal in Punjab.  Congress has aggressively campaigned under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi in the state, eyeing its solo return. The 403-seat UP assembly where Yogi rules with an iron-clad majority of 314 seats, is up for grabs in February 2022.