CM Aditya Nath likely to visit Delhi today as focus shifts to portfolio distribution in UP

Before allocating portfolios to his ministers, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Aditya Nath is likely to visit Delhi on Tuesday morning for a quick word on the issue with the Bharatiya Janata Party high command.

A possible bureaucratic reshuffle in the state could also be discussed during the visit. The 44-year-old CM, who is a firebrand Hindutva leader, is also expected to call on President Pranab Mukherjee and vice-president Hamid Ansari besides meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Portfolios to new ministers of the state are likely to be allotted "very soon", cabinet minister Siddharth Nath Singh has said.

Uttar Pradesh's 47-member council of ministers, including two deputy chief ministers, was sworn in by governor Ram Naik on Sunday.

"The portfolios are being worked out. The process for allocation of departments is on and hopefully it will be



done very soon," Singh told PTI in Lucknow.

Singh and Shrikant Sharma are the two UP ministers entrusted with the task of acting as an interface between the government and the media.

Singh said soon after the allocation of portfolios, the date of the assembly session would be finalised after consultation with the governor.

Besides two deputies, chief minister Aditya Nath's team has 22 cabinet ministers, nine ministers of state with independent charge and 13 ministers of state.

Earlier in the day, the chief minister said the state budget for 2017-18 will be prepared keeping in mind the promises made in BJP's 'sankalp patra'.

Aditya Nath, the 21st chief minister of UP, has promised to work for all sections of the society without any discrimination, pursuing the agenda of "sabka sath, sabka vikas (with all, development for all)".