Before the by-elections, the BJP government has made a significant move. Former MLA Baijnath Rawat has been appointed as the Chairman of the Uttar Pradesh Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission. Additionally, Narendra Khajuri, a close aide of RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, has also been appointed as a member of the commission.

Former MLAs Bechan Ram and Jeet Singh Khairwar have been named as Vice-Chairpersons of the commission. Baijnath Rawat, from Barabanki, belongs to the Scheduled Caste community. He was a contender for a Lok Sabha ticket from the Barabanki constituency. These appointments were announced after receiving the Governor’s approval. The commission will also include three women members.

Appointees Details

The Social Welfare Department released the list of appointments. The commission will have 17 members. Baijnath Rawat, former MLA from Barabanki, has been appointed as Chairman. Bechan Ram, former MLA from Gorakhpur, and Jeet Singh Khairwar from Sonbhadra have been appointed as Vice-Chairpersons.

Other members appointed include Harendra Jatav from Meerut, Mahipal Valmiki from Saharanpur, Sanjay Singh from Bareilly, Dinesh Bharat from Agra, Shivnarayan Sonkar from Hamirpur, Neeraj Gautam from Auraiya, Ramesh Kumar Toofani from Lucknow, Narendra Singh Khajuri from Meerut, Tijaram from Azamgarh, Vinay Ram from Mau, Anita Gautam from Gonda, Ramesh Chandra from Kanpur, Mithai Lal from Bhadohi, Umesh Katheria from Bareilly, Ajay Kari from Lucknow, Jitendra Kumar from Kaushambi, and Anita Kamal from Ambedkar Nagar.

The letter regarding these appointments was issued on Friday after receiving the Governor’s approval. Narendra Khajuri, an RLD leader and close to Jayant Chaudhary, has also been appointed as a member of the SC-ST commission. Jayant Chaudhary’s party, RLD, is currently part of the NDA, and Chaudhary himself is a minister in the central government.