Yogi Adityanath on Friday took oath as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister for the second consecutive term, along with veteran BJP leader Keshav Prasad Maurya taking charge as the deputy CM.
In addition to this, Brajesh Pathak was also sworn in as the deputy CM, replacing Dinesh Sharma.
Other cabinet ministers who took oath include, Suresh Kumar Khanna, Surya Pratap Shahi, Swatantra Dev Singh, Baby Rani Maurya, Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, Jaivir Singh Dharam, Pal Singh Nand, Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’, Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, Anil Rajbhar, Jitin Prasada and Rakesh Sachan.
Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel administered the oath to them in a ceremony also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and BJP national president J P Nadda.
Adityanath was unanimously elected the BJP legislature party leader in UP on Thursday, after which he staked claim to form the government.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium, the venue having the capacity to accommodate 50,000 people.
The BJP-led alliance had won 273 of 403 seats in the just-concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. While the BJP got 255 seats, its allies Nishad Party and the Apna Dal (S) bagged 18.
‘Under 50’ CM
The monk-turned-politician Adityanath is leading the pack of the younger generation of leaders at the helm of as many as six states in the country.
While Adityanath (49) stays under 50 years of age, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, 48, expanded the 'under 50' group this month.
MOH Farook was the first to break the glass ceiling, becoming the youngest chief minister in India after he took the charge of Puducherry in 1967 when he was just 29-years-old.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Parkash Singh Badal was 43 years old when he became Chief Minister of Punjab in 1970.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar had announced his arrival at the forefront of Indian politics by taking charge of Maharashtra in 1978. He was 38-years-old when he became the Chief Minister of the state.
Afterwards, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta in 1985 became Assam Chief Minister when he was 34 years old.
But India in the last two decades has seen more younger political leaders rising in the ranks in their respective political parties, with some gaining from the political legacies passed on to the next generation.
The National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdulla in 2009 handed over the leadership baton to his son Omar Abdulla in 2009 who became the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir at 38 years of age.
A year later, Hemant Soren became the Chief Minister of Jharkhand in 2013 when he was 28-years-old, with his father Shibu Soren passing on the leadership baton of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) to him.
Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of veteran Congress leader YS Rajsekhara Reddy, became the youngest CM of Andhra Pradesh in 2019 at 46.
