UP CM Akhilesh expands his Cabinet, Balram Yadav back as minister

In what may be seen as a message to the electorate that he has say in the party, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday inducted three Cabinet and two Ministers of State (Independent Charge) ahead of next year's assembly elections in the state.

Balram Yadav, who was axed by Akhilesh apparently for facilitating the merger, has also been inducted in the Cabinet.

Mohammed Ziauddin Rizvi, Narad Rai, Ravidas Mahrotra and Sharda Pratap Shukla are the others included in the Cabinet.

Governor Ram Naik administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers at the Raj Bhawan here.

This is the seventh expansion of Akhilesh's government and probably the last one before the 2017 elections.

The Samajwadi Party Government, which assumed office in 2012, had in the last expansion in October last year inducted five Cabinet Ministers, eight Ministers of State with independent charge and eight Ministers of State.

The maximum permissible strength of the ministry, including the Chief Minister, is 60 in Uttar Pradesh.

The Samajwadi Party had earlier on Saturday revoked its merger with gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's Qaumi Ekta Dal (QEM).

The merger of the two parties was announced on June 21 by Samajwadi Party spokesman and senior Cabinet Minister Shipal Yadav, who is the brother of Akhilesh's father and party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.