Firebrand BJP MP Yogi Adityanath will be sworn in as the 21st chief minister of Uttar Pradesh today and along with him, two deputy Chief Ministers will also take oath at Kanshiram Smriti Upvan in Lucknow.
One of the Deputy CMs, Dinesh Sharma was said to be in contention for the top post himself but did not make the cut. However, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to promote him, from Lucknow's Mayor to Deputy CM of the most populous state in the country.
For Sharma, it was a slow and steady rise to the post, from the affable mayor of Lucknow to the deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Here is what we know about Dinesh Sharma:
1- Dinesh Sharma, 53, has been a member of the BJP for a long time and comes from a family having long association with the RSS.
2- He is a professor in Lucknow University's Commerce department.
3- He was first elected as the Mayor of Lucknow in 2008. He stood for re-election in 2012 and defeated his nearest rival, Neeraj Bora of the Congress by over 1.71 lakh votes.
4- He emerged on the central stage of BJP's politics with his appointment as its National Vice President in August 2014 after the party's landslide victory in the parliamentary polls.
5- It was after he was made in-charge of the party affairs in Gujarat, his stature in the party grew immensely. He is said to have won over the trust of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah during his stint in their native state.
6- Party insiders say that ever since a godman presented him a garland with a blessing that "red beacon" will never leave him, he became the Lucknow mayor for the second term.
7- Sharma has the backing of the RSS and it is said that Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhaya often visited his parental home in the state capital.
8- It was on his invitation that the Prime Minister had attended the Lucknow Ramlila in October last.
9- Religious by nature, Sharma's assent to the post of the deputy CM is considered as a move that could prove to be beneficial for the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
10- He also played a key role in the organisation during its membership drive when 10 crore new members were roped in.
Sharma was named as one of the two deputy chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday. Keshav Prasad Maurya will be the other deputy chief minister in the government to be headed by Yogi Adityanath.
