Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is likely to expand his cabinet on Tuesday with the induction of two new faces from the BJP, one from RLD and another from Om Prakash Rajbhar's party SBSP, sources in the Chief Minister's Office said.

This will be the first cabinet expansion in Adityanath's second term as chief minister.

Sources said BJP leader Dara Singh Chauhan, who returned to the saffron party after a stint with the Samajwadi Party last year, and BJP MLA from Sahibabad Sunil Kumar Sharma are likely to be ministers.

RLD MLA from Purkazi in Muzaffarnagar district, Anil Kumar, and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief OP Rajbhar are also likely to take oath this evening.

The current UP council of ministers has 52 members -- 18 cabinet ministers, including the chief Minister, 14 ministers of state (independent charge) and 20 ministers of state.

The cabinet expansion is seen to be an attempt by the BJP to consolidate its position in several regions of the state ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Last week, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda in Delhi and formally joined the ruling National Democratic Alliance. On Monday, RLD declared its candidates from Bijnor and Baghpat for the general elections.

Chandan Chauhan, a sitting MLA of the party from Meerapur in Muzaffarnagar, will contest from Bijnor and Dr Rajkumar Sangwan, a senior leader and national secretary of the party, from Baghpat Lok Sabha seat.

Dara Singh Chauhan, who lost the Ghosi assembly bye-election after returning to the BJP last year, was elected to the UP Legislative Council this year in January. OP Rajbhar also re-joined the BJP-led NDA last year in 2023.

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