Mumbai: All 16 ministers in Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s cupboard tendered their resignations on Thursday, with the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) aiming to face native elections with the formation of a brand new cupboard within the state authorities scheduled for early subsequent 12 months.
Patel will convene a brand new council of ministers assembly at 11:30 am on Friday, a Raj Bhawan assertion stated. Sources say it would embody some present and new faces. Sources stated sure ministers with the rank of well being ministry, similar to Harsh Sanghvi, may additionally be elevated to ministerial standing.
Nonetheless, there is no such thing as a indication whether or not the ministers are more likely to stay in workplace after the reshuffle. “Solely the management is aware of that. We do not know,” stated a cupboard minister who requested anonymity.
The reorganization will happen earlier than native polls are scheduled in Gujarat in January-February 2026 in 15 municipal firms, 81 municipal firms, 31 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats.
Want for overhaul
The BJP has been in energy in Gujarat for seven consecutive phrases and received a historic majority within the final elections in 2022. The occasion returned to energy by successful 156 seats within the 182-member Home of Representatives.
The Bharatiya Janata Get together is attempting to plug all of the holes forward of the native physique polls, which are actually being thought of as mini-polls for the meeting.
The BJP chief stated PM Modi feels that there’s all the time some extent of anti-incumbency creeping into any authorities and that Gujarat, which has turn out to be virtually synonymous with the Union authorities’s power, is simply too storied to check any anti-incumbency potentialities.
Sarthak Bagki, a tutorial at Ahmedabad College, informed ThePrint, “Persevering with to overtake the group, whether or not it is altering MLAs or altering ministers, is among the BJP’s continued methods to make sure its dominance in Gujarat.”
He added that in 2016, the then CM Anandiben Patel was requested to resign and a brand new council of ministers took over. The identical factor occurred in 2021 when Vijay Rupani was requested to resign. It is the identical technique this time round, however with modifications, he stated. The BJP holds the CM.
“He’s a Patidar CM. He’s additionally an individual with a mild-mannered picture. He retains a low profile. He’s not seen as a menace by the management. Anandiben Patel and Vijay Rupani weren’t the identical. Bhupendra Patel could be very completely happy to be second fiddle to the central management and can also be very near the builders foyer which helps the BJP in Gujarat,” Bagki stated.
The Bharatiya Janata Get together has been in energy in Gujarat for a number of phrases, but it surely faces challenges on varied fronts within the state.
A Bharatiya Janata Get together chief, who requested anonymity, stated the state authorities has been dealing with a number of controversies in latest instances, together with the Gambira bridge collapse in Vadodara district in July this 12 months and the alleged irregularities within the MGNREGA scheme in Dahod metropolis, the place the sons of state minister Bachubhai Chabad had been arrested in Might this 12 months.
“These incidents present that there are inefficiencies within the authorities. Forming a brand new cupboard is the occasion’s manner of displaying the folks that it’s correcting these inefficiencies.”
One other occasion chief stated that no senior chief has been in a position to construct goodwill among the many individuals as a lot as Prime Minister Modi has performed, and that ministers have additionally been lagging behind in countering the opposition’s claims.
Nonetheless, the chief stated CM Patel’s personal picture remained constructive.
Get together leaders additionally concern that studies that the Aam Aadmi Get together (AAP) is strengthening its maintain in Gujarat, significantly in areas similar to Surat and Saurashtra, and that the Congress is rebuilding its organizational base, may undermine the Bharatiya Janata Get together’s document of whole management within the state.
(Edited by Vinny Mishra)
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