All you need to know about the new Deputy Chief Ministers of UP: Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma

With Yogi Adityanath being named Uttar Pradesh's new Chief Minister, BJP also decided to reward two of its workers as it gave the post of Deputy Chief Ministers to Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma. Here are a few points about their traits and political career:

Keshav Prasad Maurya:
1) Maurya was instrumental in consolidating non-Yadav OBCs for BJP, a key factor in the party’s landslide, 300-plus seats performance in UP. Maurya burnished his political credentials in these elections.

2) Born in Kaushambhi district of Uttar Pradesh, Maurya worked at tea-stalls and sold newspapers to support his family and continue education, which he considers as a common thread that binds him with PM Modi.

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3) An RSS worker who has risen through the ranks, Maurya was elected to Uttar Pradesh Assembly in 2012 from Sirathu seat in Allahabad. In 2014, he contested from Phulpur, once represented by the first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

4) He took charge as UP BJP chief in April last year. Where Maurya took charge, questions were raised about Maurya’s criminal record. In his 2014 election affidavit, Maurya declared that he had 11 criminal cases against him.

5) He is probably the only BJP leader in the ranks who has a massive OBC and Dalit fan base.

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Dinesh Sharma:

1) Sharma, 53, a national vice president of the party, is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS. The Sangh ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya often visited Sharma’s paternal home on Aishbagh road in Lucknow as he was close to Sharma’s father.




2) Twenty doctoral theses have been completed under Sharma, who also wears the hat of a Lucknow University professor apart from being the city's mayor.

3) Sharma, who rose to the post of party vice president and became in-charge of the PM's home state Gujarat soon after the party’s landslide victory in 2014 Lok Sabha election, is the "young upper-caste face" of the state

4) Sharma was handpicked by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to head the Atal Innovation Mission after he had served twice as the party’s youth wing chief.

5) Sharma was instrumental in propping up BJP's membership in the state from a crore to over 11 crore.