New Delhi: Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday took his oath to office in Lucknow to become the youngest Chief Minister of India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh. A total of 47 ministers have sworn in, including 19 Cabinet ministers and 28 MOS, along with Akhilesh Yadav.
Akhilesh led his party to win 224 seats in the Assembly Elections.
"Samajwadi Party will fulfill promises made in the manifesto. Law and order will be our responsibility from today. Action would be taken against officers doing injustice," he told reporters.
The function, held at La Martinere College ground in Lucknow, was attended by members of SP's first family including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh's wife Dimple, Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Congress leader Motilal Vohra, Jaya Bachchan, Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, CPI leader A B Bardhan and industrialists Anil Ambani and Subrata Roy Sahara.
Akhilesh had also invited top leaders across party lines to the ceremony including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Nitish Kumar.
Attacking the Mayawati government, Akhilesh said, "Organised corruption as happened in the previous regime never took place in the state. There were restrictions during the previous government and UP is now celebrating democracy."
His name was proposed in a key party meet by senior leader Azam Khan, and was supported by the members of the Samajwadi Party at the legislative board meeting.
Akhilesh at the age of 38 has become the youngest chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Though there were oppositions from Mulayam’s brother Shivpal Singh Yadav on the name of Akhilesh as the chief minister, he was later convinced by the former chief minister.
It must be noted that the credit for the win of the Samajwadi Party and the routing of Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has been unanimously given to a rigorous campaign by Akhilesh across the state.
From where the new government would arrange funds for its populist announcements, including free laptops, tablet computers and unemployment allowance, Akhilesh said, "arrangements will be made".
"If money can be arranged for stones and statues, then these are the schemes related to education and allowance. These are outrightly welfare schemes and arrangements will be made", he added.
The Cabinet ministers are Azam Khan, Shivpal Singh Yadav, Ahmad Hasan, Waqar Ahmad Shah, Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh, Ambika Chaudhary, Anand Singh, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, Balram Yadav, Om Prakash Singh, Awadhsh Prasad, Parasnath Yadav, Ram Govind Chaudhary, Durga Prasad Yadav, Brahma Shanker Tripathi, Kameshwar Upadhyaya, Raja Ram Pandey, Raj Kishore Singh and Shiv Kumar Beria.
Akhilesh's ministry is a mix of old and new faces. While veterans like Azam Khan, Waqar Ahmad Shah, Shivpal Yadav, Ahmad Hasan and Ambika Chaudhary have been given cabinet berths, new faces like Abhishek Mishra, first time MLA from Lucknow north seat, has also been inducted in the ministry.
Adequate representation of Muslims in the government has been ensured with three cabinet ministers and seven ministers of state in it.
(With additional information from PTI)
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