advertisement
Yogi Adityanath took the oath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for a second consecutive term at the Ekana cricket stadium in Lucknow on Friday, 25 March.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present for the mammoth ceremony, where over 50 ministers of the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government were sworn in.
These are a few of the BJP leaders who took the oath of office on Friday:
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
Jitin Prasada
Arvind Kumar Sharma
Yogendra Upadhyaya
Sanjay Nishad
Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda, and the chief ministers of several BJP-ruled states were also among the attendees.
A list of 200 VVIP guests had been prepared for the programme, to which all the Opposition leaders of the state, including former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, BSP supremo Mayawati, were invited.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav took a dig at the new BJP government in Uttar Pradesh and said in a Hindi tweet, "Congratulations to the new government that they are taking oath in the stadium built by the Samajwadi Party. The oath should not be merely to form the government, but also to serve the people in a true sense."
Additionally, workers of the mandal unit of the BJP and beneficiaries of welfare schemes were invited to the ceremony. Social workers, writers, doctors, engineers, saints of religious monasteries and temples were also invited.
In light of the oath-taking ceremony on Friday, the Lucknow Traffic Police had announced alternate traffic routes for the movement of vehicles in the city. The diverted routes came into effect at 7 am (for heavy vehicles) and 9 am (for small vehicles) and will remain in place till 10 pm, the police said.
For the grand ceremony, about 5,000 pots were planted by the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) from Arjunganj to Ekana Stadium. Arrangements were also made for LED lights and colourful skirting on pillars. A total of 5,000 rooms were booked for VVIP guests at 115 hotels from 24-25 March.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)