Lucknow:

Jitin Prasada, who switched from the Congress to the BJP earlier this year, was among the seven new ministers to join the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh just four months before state polls.

The only one among the seven to get cabinet rank, Jitin Prasada denied that a UP ministry was a comedown for him. The 47-year-old was once a Union Minister in the Congress-led government.

“It is not about promotion or demotion, it’s about the intent to serve the people and whatever opportunity and responsibility I have got I am thankful to the BJP leadership, especially to the PM (Narendra Modi), Home Minister Amit Shah, JP Nadda and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath,” Mr Prasada told NDTV.

All new ministers met with the Chief Minister earlier today. They still have not been assigned ministries and have just three months before the code of conduct kicks in, which means no new announcement.

“Time is not that much important – it is the intent and the direction to work that is important. We will be working on the progress of the state and the people and that is the way forward,” Mr Prasada said, asked what he could hope to achieve in such a short time.

Mr Prasada, once close to Rahul Gandhi and the Congress’s top Brahmin face in UP, quit the party in June. He was Minister of State in Manmohan Singh’s government.

According to sources close to him, he had felt side-lined in the Congress for some time.

For the BJP, Mr Prasada is a significant acquisition as it tries to consolidate the support of Brahmin voters, seen to have turned away from the party in recent years.