UP: Keshav Prasad Maurya, who lost polls, takes oath as Deputy Chief Minister

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yogi Adityanath on Friday took oath for his second consecutive term as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and several Union Ministers were present at the grand ceremony in Lucknow's Ekana Stadium. Chief Ministers of the BJP ruled states and party leaders also attended the oath-taking ceremony.

Yogi was sworn in by Governor Anandiben Patel in a jam-packed Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium having a crowd of more than 50,000 in attendance.

Meanwhile, Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak took oath as the Deputy Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh.

For the unversed, Maurya lost the assembly poll contest in Sirathu to Samajwadi Party's Pallavi Patel by 7,337 votes. While Maurya polled 98,941 votes, Patel, the elder sister of Union minister Anupriya Patel, got 1,06,278 votes.

After the result, Maurya said he is worker of the BJP, and will do whatever the party tells him to do.

"I am a worker of the party, and will do whatever the party tells me to do," Maurya told news agency PTI.

"With all humility, I accept the mandate of the people of Sirathu assembly constituency. I am thankful to each and every party worker and also express my gratitude towards the voters, who have voted for me. It is a happy moment for us that the BJP has formed the government once again due to the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Uttar Pradesh and in three other states," he added.

Maurya had won the Sirathu seat in 2012, but had not contested the 2017 polls.

Meanwhile, Suresh Kumar Khanna, Surya Pratap Shahi, Swatantra Dev Singh and Baby Rani Maurya were some of the others to take oath as Ministers in the Uttar Pradesh government.

Published on: Friday, March 25, 2022, 04:38 PM IST