Yogi Adityanath on Sunday inducted seven new ministers into his government less than six months before Assembly polls are due, the exercise apparently aimed at balancing caste equations despite the BJP’s professed disdain for such concerns.

One of the new ministers is Congress defector Jitin Prasada, who belongs to the Brahmin community that is perceived to be unhappy with Adityanath.

Three are OBCs, the mainstay of the Samajwadi Party, and the remaining three are Dalits, a community that makes up the Bahujan Samaj Party vote bank.

However, in an apparent show of defiance, Adityanath desisted from inducting Narendra Modi confidant Arvind Kumar Sharma, a retired IAS officer who had worked for about two decades with Modi in Gujarat and Delhi.

Sharma was sent to Uttar Pradesh in January amid strong speculation that the Prime Minister wanted him appointed state home minister, but Adityanath didn’t oblige.