The Cabinet ministers in Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel's government will be sworn in on September 16.
All the ministers in the Cabinet will be new as the Bharatiya Janata Party has reportedly decided to drop all ministers who were part of former chief minister Vijay Rupani’s government.
The BJP is learned to have adopted what is being called the “no repeat theory” in Gujarat, perhaps, to counter the anti-incumbency factor ahead of the next year’s Assembly election. However, there is no official word on this yet.
Amidst infighting within the party over ministerial berths, the new Cabinet will be sworn in today at 1.30 pm by Governor Acharya Devvrat at the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar. The oath-taking was earlier slated to be held on September 15, but due to wrangling by senior leaders and others, it was abruptly cancelled, according to the reports.
“The swearing-in ceremony of the new Cabinet of CM Shri Bhupendra Patel will take place tomorrow, September 16 at 1.30 p.m. at Raj Bhavan, Gandhinagar,” the CMO said in a tweet.
READ: BJP battles infighting, Gujarat Cabinet oath deferred
The names of leaders who are likely to get a berth in the Cabinet include Gandevi MLA Naresh Patel (Tribal), Pardi MLA Kanubhai Desai, Visnagar MLA Hrishikesh Patel, Dhari MLA J V Kakadiya, Kaprada MLA Jitu Chaudhary, Niklo MLA Jagdish Panchal, Majura MLA Harsh Sanghvi, Jamnagar MLA Raghavji Patel, Olpad MLA Mukesh Patel, Morwa Hadaf MLA Nimisha Suthar, Bharuch MLA Dushyant Patel, Prantij MLA Gajendra Parmar.
In the list of 21 names doing rounds, there is no name from the previous Cabinet in the list. The other names speculated to get a berth include Morbi MLA Brijesh Merja, Asarva MLA Pradeep Parmar, Keshod MLA Deva Malam, Limbdi MLA KiritSinh Rana, Mahemdavad MLA Arjun Sinh Chauhan, Santrampur MLA Kuber Dindor, Mahuva MLA RC Makwana. Pakanj Desai will be made whip of the party in the assembly, as per reports.
Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi resigned from his post hours ahead of the swearing-in ceremony. Trivedi, who is the MLA from Raopura in Vadodara, is also expected to be made a minister.
Also, read: Gujarat leadership change proof that BJP will fight 2022 polls in Narendra Modi’s name
The new Cabinet will come after Bhupendra Patel (59), a first-time MLA from Ahmedabad, took over as the new Gujarat chief minister on September 13 after the sudden resignation of Rupani on September 11.
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