Uttar Pradesh chief minister-designate Mayawati on Wednesday held parleys with party legislators in finalising the composition of her council of ministers as a balanced and untainted team. Mayawati, who is to head a BSP-BJP alliance government in the state, reached Lucknow on Wednesday afternoon and held a few rounds of discussions with her party legislators and other leaders on the composition of her ministry.
However, state BJP leaders including Kalraj Mishra were still in New Delhi and were likely to reach Lucknow on Thursday after meeting senior party leaders there. BJP sources in Lucknow said that the both parties were trying to refuse ministerial berths to tainted MLAs.
Those expected to be sworn in on Friday are BJP leaders Lalji Tandon, Om Prakash Singh, Hukum Singh, Harish Chandra Srivastava and Ram Prakash Tripathi and BSP leaders Swami Prasad Maurya, Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Lalji Verma and Sukhdeo Rajbhar.
Besides, Kokab Hamid and Anuradha Choudhury of the Rashtriya Lok Dal alongwith a couple of MLAs from the other coalition partners are also expected to be inducted in the council of ministers. BSP sources said that the party was exploring the possibility of including a ''good'' number of its upper caste MLAs in the ministry as a counter to the pro-upper caste image of BJP.
Bureau Report