When UP develops, India develops: Prime Minister

Modi, while noting that BJP had formed the government in four out of five states that went to the polls recently, said, “Our unwavering efforts to create a ‘Bhavya’ (great) & ‘Divya’ (brilliant) Bharat (India) continue. India’s Jan Shakti is powering the rise of a new & transformed India”. 

In a series of tweets just after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Adityanath and his council of ministers in Lucknow, the Prime Minister expressed confidence that the new government will work for ‘record development’ for Uttar Pradesh. 

“Congratulations to Yogi Adityanath Ji, Keshav Prasad Maurya Ji, Dinesh Sharma Ji & all those who took oath on Sunday. Best wishes for serving UP”, he wrote. “Our sole mission & motive is development. When UP develops, India develops. We want to serve UP’s youth & create opportunities for them”, Modi added.

Rising above electoral bitterness and putting on the back burner their slanging matches during Uttar Pradesh campaign, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh and his father Mulayam attended the swearing in ceremony of Yogi Adityanath on Sunday. 

After the nearly 90-minute event at Kanshiram Smriti Upvan, the father-son duo moved towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi and were seen exchanging pleasantries. Reflecting warmth, Modi shook hands with Akhilesh and patted him on his shoulder. He also held the hands of Mulayam, who was seen whispering something to Modi. And the Prime Minister was all ears. 

In his rallies, Modi had ridiculed the opposition alliance of SP and Congress, saying they together stood for ‘SCAM’ (Samajwadi, Congress and Mayawati). Not to be outdone, Akhilesh came out with his own take on SCAM, saying it stood for ‘Save Country from Amit (Shah) and Modi’

Bachelor CMs’ club has new entrant, Yogi

The club of bachelor chief ministers in the country has just expanded.

Priest-turned politician Yogi Adityanath, 44, who was sworn in as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday, now joins Trivendra Singh Rawat, 56, (Uttarakhand), M L Khattar, 62, (Haryana), Sarbananda Sonowal, 54, (Assam) and 70-year-old BJD chief Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) in the league of singletons running state governments. And by coincidence barring Patnaik and 62-year-old TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal,) all the chief ministers, who are unencumbered by a family, are from the BJP. Rawat was sworn in on Saturday and like Khattar is a former RSS pracharak. Refusing to accept defeat after numerous failures in her quest to dethrone Left front rule in West Bengal, Mamata, a spinster, rose like a phoenix and finally succeeded in unseating the Left Front government in 2011. She is currently serving her second term.