From left: Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh CM); ML Khattar (Haryana CM); Sarbananda Sonowal (Assam CM); Naveen Patnaik (Odisha CM)
New Delhi, March 19
The club of bachelor chief ministers in the country has just expanded. Priest-turned politician Yogi Adityanath, 44, who was today sworn in as Uttar Pradesh CM, joins ML Khattar, 62 (Haryana), Sarbananda Sonowal, 54, (Assam) and 70-year-old BJD chief Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) in the league of singletons running state governments. Adityanath, the controversial mascot of hardline Hindutva, is also the first male bachelor CM of the country’s most populous state.And by coincidence, barring Patnaik and 62-year-old Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal,) all the chief ministers, who are unencumbered by a family, are from the BJP.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)Refusing to accept defeat after numerous failures in her quest to dethrone the Left front in West Bengal, Mamata, a spinster, rose like the phoenix and finally succeeded in unseating the Left Front government in 2011. She is now serving her second term.The firebrand TMC leader has often said at public meetings that her life is dedicate to the people of West Bengal.Among the current crop of top politicians, Rahul Gandhi, 46, the scion of the Congress, BSP chief Mayawati, 61 and senior BJP leader Uma Bharti, 57, are single. “I’m of low caste, I’m unmarried, and I’m yours,” Mayawati has often proclaimed at her election rallies.Naveen Patnaik, who has been ruling Odisha since 2000, has often told the electorate that unlike the Congress family, there was no danger of his government indulging in family rule as he was unmarried.Rahul, asked about his singlehood ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, had replied, “Right now I am engaged in fighting the elections. Unfortunately, I have not been focused on private life.”Among the other chief ministers, Nitish Kumar in Bihar and Manohar Parrikar in Goa, are widowers. Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief, has not tied the knot either.Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a BJP stalwart, who was Prime Minister thrice, never married. — PTI