LUCKNOW: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanaths visit to Delhi on Wednesday has triggered speculations of a possible cabinet expansion or reshuffle in Uttar Pradesh.Yogis meeting with Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and other leaders on Wednesday evening would be followed by another meeting of party leaders on Thursday.Sources said that though the discussions in Thursdays meeting could be around the measures that should be taken to counter the Oppositions demand for a caste census, leaders from UP might also raise other issues, including cabinet expansion/reshuffle which has been in the pipeline for a long time now.The CMs meeting with the central leadership on Wednesday lasted for around an hour. Yogi, who returned to Lucknow in the evening, could again go to Delhi on Thursday, sources said.Since the BJP has cancelled its conference of SC Morcha (Awadh region), there are chances that Yogi might go to Delhi on Thursday after his scheduled visit to Hardoi, as it was not cancelled till reports last came in.Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, UP BJP president Bhupendra Chaudhary and UP BJPs organisation general secretary Dharampal Singh, and OBC MPs are likely to attend the meeting, sources added.Jal Shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh has also been invited to the meeting. However, it is yet not clear if he would attend the meeting as he is in Satna (Madhya Pradesh) in connection with the state assembly elections.The final decision on cabinet rejig is likely to be taken after the meeting and the expansion might take place before Diwali. The Yogi government is likely to induct Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar in the cabinet. Final decision on the induction of OBC leader from east UP Dara Singh Chauhan, who was a cabinet minister in the first term of the Yogi government, will also be taken in this meeting. Sources said that Rajbhar could also meet senior BJP leaders in Delhi on Thursday.Chauhan had left the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party ahead of the 2022 assembly polls and had successfully contested the election from Mau. However, he quit the SP after a few months and rejoined the BJP. In the Mau bypoll, however, Chauhan lost to SPs Sudhakar Singh. With the LS polls a few months away, sources confirmed that there is a slim possibility of any major reshuffle in the state cabinet and only a few portfolios might change and some new faces could be added.

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