Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav was sworn in as the 33rd chief minister of country's most politically crucial state Uttar Pradesh on Thursday.
The 38-year-old, the youngest to hold the post in the country's most populous state, took oath in the name of God at 11:34 am at the sprawling La Martiniere College grounds. Hundreds of thousands of supporters thronged the venue since early morning.
The Cabinet ministers are Azam Khan, Shivpal Singh Yadav, Ahmad Hasan, Waqar Ahmad Shah, Raja Mahendra Aridaman Singh, Ambika Chaudhary, Anand Singh, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, Balram Yadav, Om Prakash Singh, Awadhsh Prasad, Parasnath Yadav, Ram Govind Chaudhary, Durga Prasad Yadav, Brahma Shanker Tripathi, Kameshwar Upadhyaya, Raja Ram Pandey, Raj Kishore Singh and Shiv Kumar Beria.
The son of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh is credited with steering the party to a thumping victory of 224 seats in the 403-member Assembly.
He, however, will have his task cut out fulfilling the long list of promises made by his party in its poll manifesto.
Samajwadi Party had announced a slew of poll sops, including providing laptops to intermediate pass students, tablet computers to high-school pass outs, allowance to unemployed youths, free treatment to patients suffering from serious ailments and loan waivers for farmers.
Akhilesh will also have to take a call on constituting a commission for taking legal opinion on providing reservation to Muslims and implementing recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission and the Sachar Committee.
The SP leader has said improving law and order situation and rooting out corruption in the state are among his top priorities.
Besides, restoration of student unions in universities and colleges will also be a challenge for him.
Even before taking the reins of the state, the party is under attack from opposition parties, including outgoing chief minister Mayawati, who has alleged that the law and order situation had deteriorated following declaration of poll results in favour of SP.
Akhilesh Yadav sworn in as UP CM | Raja Bhaiya becomes Cabinet minister
