Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav meets Governor to discuss cabinet expansion

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav today met Governor Ram Naik to discuss expansion of his cabinet.

"CM met Governor at Raj Bhawan to discuss expansion of his cabinet", Raj Bhawan said in a press release here.

The CM had yesterday hinted at expansion of the state's council of ministers after the Bihar assembly elections scheduled to end next month.

"Let the elections in Bihar be over," CM had said while replying to a question about the impending reshuffle of the ministry.

Uttar Pradesh has a maximum permissible strength of 60 for the council of ministers. There are 26 cabinet ministers, including the chief minister, 24 ministers of state, and four ministers of state (independent charge).

With the death of Minister of state (independent charge) for Rural Engineering Service, Rajendra Rana on Tuesday, the vacancies in the council of ministers has gone up to six.

There are indications that CM may drop some ministers.