Kalyan Singh adds five more to ministry
The five-month-old Kalyan Singh ministry in Uttar Pradesh was expanded for the
second time, on Tuesday evening.
Five new ministers, all Bahujan Samaj
Party rebels, were inducted. While Jai Narain Tiwari was made a cabinet minister, the other four -- Rajendra Singh Patel, Ved Prakash, Munna Lal Maurya and Shiv
Ganesh Lodhi -- were given the rank of ministers of state.
With this expansion, the strength of the ministry
has risen to 95.
Governor Romesh Bhandari administered the oath of office and
secrecy at a brief ceremony in Raj Bhavan.
Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, state BJP president Raj Nath Singh,
cabinet ministers and senior government officers were present at
the swearing-in ceremony.
The ministry, which was 93-strong till February 21,
had dropped three ministers -- Jagdambika Pal, Pooran Singh Bundela and
Raj Rai Singh.
Pal and Bundela were dropped following the coup
d'etat of February 21 in which Kalyan Singh's government was
dismissed and Pal was sworn in as chief minister.
Raj Rai Singh, the minister of state for programme
implementation, was dropped on the charge of not voting in Kalyan Singh's favour in the composite floor test in the assembly on
February 26.
Elections '98
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