Bhupendra Patel

Ahmedabad, Oct 16 The BJP government in Gujarat has decided to offer financial assistance of Rs 5,000 per person from the state's tri..

Things started changing in AAP’s favour in February, when it tasted its first major success -- in the Surat municipal polls. It won 27 seats and emerged as the principal opposition party. The BJP won 93 seats. AAP now projects itself to be an alternative to both the BJP and the Congress in the state.

Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to 10 cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including five ministers of state with independent charge.

Trivedi, a legislator from Raopura in Vadodara, is likely to join as a minister in Patel’s cabinet, sources said.

All the ministers in the Cabinet will be new as the BJP has reportedly decided to drop all ministers who were part of former chief minister Vijay Rupani’s government.

There has been suspense over ministerial faces, whose names have not been declared so far, in the backdrop of the BJP''s "no repeat" formula.

The Patidar face who is a first-time MLA became the 17th CM of Gujarat as he succeeded Vijay Rupani days after his sudden resignation from the post.

Bhupendra Patel, who is scheduled to take oath as the next CM later in the day, met Rupani at the latter's official residence in Gandhinagar in the morning and held discussions on various issues, a release issued by the state government said.

Bhupendra Patel, a surprise pick for the post of Gujarat chief minister replacing Vijay Rupani, is believed to be the personal choice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi

First-term MLA Bhupendra Patel (59) will be sworn in as the state’s 17th chief minister at 2.20 pm on Monday, an official said.

Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat has invited Patel to take oath 2:20 pm. Patel met the Governor at Raj Bhawan in Gandhinagar on September 12 to stake a claim to the top post in the state.

In an open letter addressed to the CM-designate, Hardik Patel, who is Gujarat Congress's working president, asked what he can achieve in one year (as Assembly polls are scheduled next year) that the BJP could not in the last 25 years.

Patel, 59, a political lightweight, is known to be a protégé of former chief minister of Gujarat Anandiben Patel who earlier held the Ghatlodia seat in Ahmedabad