Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday expanded his Cabinet for the eighth and possibly the last time, before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2017. Ten new ministers were sworn in, out of which seven got the Cabinet rank and three were made ministers of state, reported IANS.

Of these 10 new ministers, Gayatri Prasad Prajapati, Manoj Pandey and Shivakant Ojha had been sacked by the chief minister earlier. Some of the other ministers sworn-in include Mohammed Ziauddin Rizvi, Abhishek Mishra and Riyaz Ahmed. The ministers took their oaths in the presence of the chief minister and Governor Ram Naik. State minister Abhishek Mishra was promoted as a Cabinet minister.

Governor Ram Naik will administer the oaths to the new ministers at the Raj Bhavan on Monday night, PTI reported. This is Prajapati's re-induction to the Cabinet, as he was sacked on September 12 for allegedly promoting illegal mining.

Reports of a family feud disrupting Assembly election preparations emerged on Sunday after Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav cancelled his rally in Azamgarh, while Akhilesh Yadav postponed the Samajwadi Vikas Rath Yatra, The Indian Express reported.

Earlier in September, Akhilesh Yadav had taken away his uncle Shivpal Yadav’s cabinet portfolios after he was replaced as the party’s state chief. Shivpal Yadav then resigned from the party and state government, but was given back his portfolios after Mulayam Singh Yadav intervened. The decision to appoint Shivpal state president was reportedly taken to counter an anti-incumbency sentiment in the state, in view of the upcoming Assembly elections. On assuming power as the party's state unit president, Shivpal sacked leaders who has allegedly campaigned against him, including his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav.

Rajya Sabha MP and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who political observers and many in his party refer to as the "outsider" was named the party's national general secretary on September 20.