New Delhi

The induction of seven new faces from Uttar Pradesh as ministers in the Narenadra Modi cabinet is apparently done with an eye for next year’s crucial elections in India’s largest state.

It has been noticed that of the seven ministers, six belong to non-upper caste communities and only one is from an upper caste. This is apparently so send clear signal to their respective communities in the run up to the election where BJP will seek to return to power.

Four of the ministers belong to different OBC caste groups.

Anupriya Patel and Pankaj Chaudhary are from the Kurmi caste, while B.L. Varma is from the Lodh community and S.P. Singh Baghel is an OBC (Gadaria) but claims to be a scheduled caste. However, his case on this issue is sub-judice.

Bhanu Pratap Verma and Kaushal Kishore hail from Dalit communities.

The lone upper caste is Ajay Mishra, a Brahmin.

 Interestingly, the BJP has carefully chosen to opt for only non-Yadav OBCs which means that the ruling party is intentionally trying to break the OBC unity. The Yadavs and many OBC communities are presumed to be supporters of the Samajwadi Party that is seeking to challenge Yogi Adityanath in elections.