Will continue to strengthen party: Outgoing UP Dy CM Dinesh Sharma

Lucknow: BJP leader and outgoing Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma on Friday said he will continue to strengthen the party to ensure that it emerges winner in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Sharma has been replaced as deputy CM in the new BJP-led state government by another Brahmin leader, Brajesh Pathak.

He congratulated new ministers who took oath on Friday and wished, "May the double-engine government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath continue to work for the people of the state." "I will continue to work for the party, and strengthen it. As a party worker, I will work to ensure that the BJP emerges victorious in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections," Sharma told PTI.

Sharma dismissed speculations of him being next Uttar Pradesh BJP chief.

With Swatantra Dev Singh taking oath as a cabinet minister, the post is likely to fall vacant and a new state unit chief of the party may be named, a senior UP BJP leader said.

Sharma (58) had earlier served as the mayor of Lucknow. He did not contest the just-concluded Assembly polls.

He is currently a member of the state Legislative Council.

Yogi Adityanath on Friday took oath as Uttar Pradesh chief minister for the second term in a mega ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top BJP leaders.

Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak were also sworn in as deputy chief ministers.