Akhilesh Yadav keeps 50 departments with himself

With the allocation of portfolios turning out to be a ticklish exercise, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has taken the ‘safe' route. He has allotted to most of the Cabinet Ministers the same portfolios which they held during his father Mulayam Singh's regime in 2003-2007. The portfolios were finally allotted to the Ministers on Sunday, 72 hours after the formation of the new Samajwadi Party government. The Chief Minister has kept with himself 50 departments, including the crucial Home, Finance, Energy, Excise, Higher and Secondary Education, Housing, Sugar and Cane Development, Industrial Development and General Administration. The number two in the Cabinet, Mohammad Azam Khan, has been given Parliamentary Affairs, Urban Development, Minority Welfare and Waqf. He was the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Urban Development and Housing in the Mulayam regime. This time, the Housing department is with the Chief Minister. Shivpal Singh Yadav has been allotted Public Works Department and Irrigation. He was the PWD Minister and Irrigation Minister in the previous SP regime. Ahmed Hasan has been made Medical, Health and Family Welfare Minister. While Waqar Ahmed Shah will be the Labour and Employment Minister and Ambika Chaudhary will hold Revenue portfolio, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya has been given Food and Civil Supplies. He was the Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the Mulayam regime. Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh has been given Transport and Anand Singh, Agriculture. Balram Yadav will be the Panchayati Raj Minister and Avdhesh Prasad will look after Social Welfare, as was the case in the previous SP regime. A new entrant, Om Prakash Singh, has been given Land Development and Water Resources, while Paras Nath Yadav will be the Minister for Small and Minor Irrigation and Animal Husbandry. Raja Ram Pandey is Khadi and Village Industries Minister