The seven new ministers inducted into the Yogi Adityanath government reflect the Bharatiya Janata Party’s focus on picking educated, mostly young leaders, from non-Yadav Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and non-Jatav Dalits as ministers who have got a people-connect, BJP leaders admitted.

Most of the new ministers in the Yogi government are below 55, with at least two of them being under 45 years.

Each of the new faces would have their task cut out, a senior BJP leader said, adding, that with around 90 days left for the Yogi government to undertake major policy decisions, these new ministers would have to hit the ground running.

The BJP is still mulling whether something on the lines of the “ashirward yatra”, which was undertaken by those leaders who found a place in the Narendra Modi government in July, should be launched.

Party leaders admitted that the new ministers would surely undertake “community-connect” initiative, though its form is yet to be decided.

While Jitin Prasada is all set to be nominated to one of the four MLC posts, the rest of the six ministers are already lawmakers, helping the party select three OBCs and Dalits for MLC posts.

BJP leaders said the party has also decided to nominate members of Gurjar, Bhurji and Nishad communities as MLCs.

Apart from Jitin Prasada, the party has also named Virendra Singh Gurjar (Shamli), Sanjay Nishad (Gorakhpur) and Gopal Anjan Bhurji (Moradabad) as its MLC picks, thus ending a long-delayed suspense on the subject.

“This would mean that along with seven ministers, these MLCs would help our caste outreach further. Only Jitin ji is minister and would be nominated as MLC too. The rest of the six ministers and three remaining MLC positions are all filled up by different subcastes of OBCs and Dalits,” a BJP leader said.

“This is the first time, a member of Bhurji caste has been made an MLC,” BJP leaders said.

“We would readily undertake whatever task the party assigns to us,” said Dharamvir Prajapati, the new minister of state and OBC leader, who was made BJP MLC in January. His appointment showcases the BJP focus on Dalit-dominated Agra belt from where the party has six lawmakers, two MPs, and a mayor. In July, the BJP’s Agra Lok Sabha MP SP Singh Baghel was appointed as a Union minister of state in the Narendra Modi government.

The BJP’s focus on riverine communities comprising boatmen and fishermen, who are also being wooed by the opposition Samajwadi Party, was apparent in the appointment of Sangeeta Balwant Bind, 41, a postgraduate woman politician from the community.

“None has done as much for the marginalised class as BJP and we would definitely strengthen this outreach initiative,” she said soon after being sworn in as a minister of state.

The BJP has also nominated Nishad party leader Sanjay Nishad as MLC, party leaders said.

PROFILES OF NEW MINISTERS

Jitin Prasada, 47, Cabinet minister

Once referred to as the “young turk” and a key component of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s team, Jitin Prasada, has been made a cabinet minister, less than five months after he defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP in UP has its own homegrown Brahmin leadership like Union minister Mahendra Nath Pandey, deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma and the state’s cabinet ministers Shrikant Sharma. There are others, too, like UP ministers Ram Naresh Agnihotri, Satish Chandra Dwivedi, Neelkanth Tiwari, Chandrika Prasad Upadhyaya and Anand Swaroop Shukla. But, the BJP has consistently been getting influential community leaders from other parties. These include UP’s law minister Brajesh Pathak, who was previously a prominent Brahmin face of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, now BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Prayagraj. The entry of Prasada in BJP, who had floated an organization to highlight the perceived injustice against Brahmins in the Yogi Adityanath government, was seen as RSS-BJP’s attempt to wean away a young, Brahmin leader from the Congress and also to symbolically indicate that the party treated the leaders of the community well, party leaders said.

Sanjay Gond, 46, Minister of State (MoS)

The BJP’s only scheduled tribe (ST) MLA in Uttar Pradesh represents the Obra assembly constituency from Sonbhadra district, where he is quite popular due to his simplicity.

The Gonds are present in a sizeable number in the backward eastern UP areas of Mirzapur, Chandauli and Sobhadra. By his appointment, the Yogi Adityanath government appears to have taken a leaf out of the Samajwadi Party template, which had also appointed a member of Gond community as minister. Back then, Vijay Singh Gond had been made a minister. Sanjay Gond was elected on the BJP ticket after defeating Vijay Singh Gond’s son Virendra. In 2017 two assembly seats were reserved for the scheduled tribes and both assembly seats are in Sonbhadra. Sanjay’s wife was recently elected block pramukh.

Paltu Ram, 51, MoS

This first-time Dalit lawmaker represents the Balrampur (reserved) assembly constituency in UP.

Resident of Gonda in eastern UP, Palturam belongs to the Khatik subcaste of Dalits. In the 2017 UP assembly elections, he defeated the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance candidate by a margin of over 25,000 votes.

A postgraduate who rose from student politics, Paltu Ram is known for his oratory and simplicity. Dalits are a key component of the RSS-BJP plan for the 2017 UP polls.

Chatrapal Gangwar, 65, MoS

An OBC leader, former RSS pracharak Chatrapal Gangwar, who retired as a school principal, became a lawmaker in 2017 after defeating the BSP candidate in the Bahedi assembly segment of Bareilly Lok Sabha seat.

Representing the Kurmi sub-caste of OBCs, his induction is being seen as the party’s attempt to strike a balance after another prominent Kurmi leader Santosh Gangwar, the Lok Sabha MP from Bareilly, resigned as Union minister recently.

Dharamvir Prajapati, 54, MoS

This BJP MLC from Agra, originally hails from Hathras in western UP started his career as a RSS swayamsevak (wholetimer). The chairman of Mati Kala Board, set up by the government to boost artisans, he was made MLC in January. Soft spoken, this BJP leader has previously been BJP’s OBC cell general secretary and has twice served as secretary in the UP BJP set-up. His appointment showcases the party’s focus on the Dalit-dominated Agra belt. During previous Deepotsav celebrations, Prajapati had been quite active getting clay artisans from across the state to make earthen lamps to be lit in Ayodhya on Diwali. His connect with artisans has made him quite popular.

Sangeeta Balwant Bind, 41, MoS

The postgraduate politician is the daughter of a retired postman and belongs to the riverine (Nishad) OBC community.

“A BJP lawmaker from Ghazipur, Bind’s selection showcases the party’s desire to promote young and educated faces from the marginalized community,” a BJP leader explained. She entered politics via student politics as well as after a stint in rural panchayat polls. Wife of a homeopathic doctor, she is a first-time lawmaker who has been made minister.

Dinesh Khatik, 44, MoS

This first-time BJP lawmaker who won against Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) from the Hastinapur assembly constituency of Meerut is an old RSS hand who has been associated with the BJP since long. His father also was with the RSS while his brother has been a member of zila panchayat. Apart from politics, Dinesh also manages a brick kiln and lives in Meerut’s Ganganagar.