‘Alias’ minister takes oath again

One of the new ministers of state in the Akhilesh Yadav government had to be administered the oath of office and secrecy a second time on Friday because he used his alias, not his actual name, the first time on Thursday.

Governor B L Joshi administered the oath to Tej Narain Pandey, MLA from Ayodhya, at Raj Bhavan. Yesterday, Pandey had taken oath as Pawan Pandey.

This is not the first time a SP leader has committed a faux pas during oath-taking. Last year, when the Akhilesh Yadav government was formed, senior SP leader Azam Khan did not read the oath properly. He was again administered the oath.

Pandey is a first-time minister and also first-time MLA. He is a former vice-president of the Lucknow University Students' Union, who has eight criminal cases pending in courts at Lucknow and Faizabad.

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