Yogi Adityanath takes oath as Uttar Pradesh CM for a historic second term

In a historic return for Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath on Friday took oath as Chief Minister of the state for the second term at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Adityanath is the first Chief Minister in the last 37 years to return to power after completing a full five-year term in the state.

Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak took oath as the Deputy Chief Ministers of the state. The two deputies were among 52 ministers sworn in on Friday along with Yogi Adityanath.

Suresh Khanna, Surya Pratap Sahi, Swatandra Dev Singh, Baby Rani Maurya and IAS-turned politician A K Sharma were administered oath as cabinet ministers.

BJP ally Ashish Patel of Apna Dal (Sonelal) and NISHAD party chief Sanjay Nishad also took given oath as cabinet ministers.

Jitin Prasada, who had quit the Congress to join the BJP just ahead of the polls, made it to the state cabinet.

Danish Azad Ansari has been made a minister of state. He is the lone Muslim face in the Adityanath government.

IPS-turned politician Aseem Arun, Daya Shakar Singh, Nitin Agarwal and Kalyan Singh's grandson Sandip Singh have been made ministers of state (independent charge).

Earlier today, Adityanath met Governor Anandiben Patel after the BJP legislature party elected him as its leader.

Cultural events were held before the commencement of the oath-taking ceremony. A huge stage has been set up in the stadium, decked with garlands in shades of orange and yellow. A poster that reads "New Uttar Pradesh of New India" has also been displayed at the bottom of the stage.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states and other party leaders are among the long list of ministers attending the ceremony. Several Opposition leaders, including Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and others, were also invited to the oath-taking ceremony. 

Adityanath, a monk-turned-politician, won his first-ever Assembly election by a margin of 1,03,390 from Gorakhpur Urban constituency, defeating the Samajwadi Party candidate Subhawati Upendra Dutt Shukla. This is the first time that he has been elected as an MLA. The BJP retained power in Uttar Pradesh by winning 255 out of 403 constituencies, securing a 41.29 per cent vote share.