Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday inducted 18 new members in his council of ministers, the first such reshuffle since the BJP came to power in the state two and a half years back. Twenty-three ministers — the 18 new faces and five others who were elevated from the minister of state rank they held earlier — were sworn in by Governor Anandiben Patel at the Raj Bhavan.

Six of the 23 were sworn in as cabinet ministers, six as ministers of state with an independent charge and the remaining 11 get the MoS rank. The four MoS-rank ministers promoted to the cabinet-level, include Suresh Rana, 49, a two-time MLA from Thana Bhawan, whose name figures in cases related to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.