Bhupendra Patel takes oath as Gujarat Chief Minister for second time

Gandhinagar, December 12, 2022

BJP leader Bhupendra Patel was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for the second time at a ceremony here today in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries.

Along with him, 16 other MLAs were sworn in as Ministers in the new Government.

Those who took oath of office as Cabinet Ministers are Kanubhai Desai, Raghavji Patel, Rishikesh Patel, Balvantsinh Rajput, Kunvarji Bavalia, Mulubhai Bera, Dr. Kuber Dindor and Bhanuben Babariya.

Those inducted as Ministers of State with independent charges are Harsh Sanghvi and Jagdish Vishwakarma.

The other Ministers of State are Parshotam Solanki, Khabad Bhachubhai, Mukesh Patel, Praful Panseriya, Bhikhu Parmar and Kunvarji Halpati.

Senior leaders who had served in the previous Bhupendra Patel ministry or under his predecessor Vijay Rupani but have not been inducted this time include Jitu Vaghani, Jayesh Radadia, Jitu Chaudhary, Naresh Patel, Arjunsinh Chauhan, R.C. Makwana, Vinod Moradiya, Nimishar Suthar and Manisha Vakil.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been in power in Gujarat for 27 years, retained power for another five-year term by winning an unprecedented 156 of the 182 seats in the state legislative assembly in the elections held in two phases on December 1 and 5.

In the counting of votes held on December 8, the opposition Congress, which had won 77 seats in the 2017 elections, was reduced to just 17 this time. The Aam Aadmi Party bagged five seats and the Samajwadi Party one, while three seats went to independent candidates.

Patel, 60, was a first-time MLA when he was picked by the BJP to replace Vijay Rupani as Chief Minister on September 13, 2021.

Born on July 15, 1962, Patel has a diploma in civil engineering from the Government Polytechnic, Ahmedabad and is a builder by profession.

He was elected thrice as a member of the Memnagar municipality in 1995-96, 1999-2000 and 2004-06. He was serving as the Chairman of the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) when he was chosen for the Chief Minister's post. He represents the Ghatlodia constituency in the State Legislative Assembly.

(With inputs from IANS)

NNN