The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday appointed expelled leader Dayashankar Singh the vice president of the Uttar Pradesh party unit, The Times of India reported. Singh had been expelled from the party for making derogatory remarks about Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati ahead of the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2017.

He held the position of vice president before he was removed from the party for six years. However, his expulsion was revoked after the BJP came to power in the state in March 2017 and his wife Swati Singh was inducted as a minister in the Adityanath government. Swati Singh had contested from Lucknow’s Sarojini Nagar and won.

Along with Dayashankar Singh, former Union minister Sanjeev Baliyan was also made the vice president of the state BJP unit. Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey appointed 15 vice presidents and seven general secretaries on Friday, The Times of India reported.