Yogi Adityanath Sworn in As Uttar Pradesh CM; New BJP Government Takes Oath

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.

Former deputy chief minister KP Maurya also took the ministerial oath, retaining his deputy CM position. BJP minister Brajesh Pathak took his third oath on Friday, replacing Dinesh Sharma as the second deputy CM of the state.

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 helipad was built near the Ekana stadium for the arrival of the prime minister.

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.

Congratulations to the New Govt for Taking Oath in the Stadium Built by SP: Akhilesh

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."

More About the Ceremony

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.

Seating arrangements were made for 75,000 people at the venue.

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.