Mumbai: A day after your entire Gujarat cupboard besides Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel resigned from the cupboard, the state authorities on Friday inaugurated a brand new council of ministers, increasing the variety of ministers from the unique 17 to 26.
The Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP), which has gained seven consecutive phrases in Gujarat, additionally reintroduced the submit of deputy CM in its reshuffle on Friday, elevating Majra MLA Harsh Sanghavi to the submit from the rank of minister of state within the earlier cupboard.
Twenty-one ministers took oath at Raj Bhawan in Gujarat on Friday. On Thursday, all ministers have been requested to submit their resignations, however CM Patel didn’t settle for the resignations of the 4 outgoing ministers, eliminating the necessity to take contemporary oaths.
These embrace minister Visnagar MLA Rushikesh Patel, Jasdan MLA Kunvarji Bavaria and Paldi MLA Kanubhai Desai. The fourth minister within the outgoing cupboard who will proceed to be part of the brand new cupboard however didn’t take oath on Friday is Bhavnagar district MLA Parshotambai Solanki, who was the minister of state for fisheries and livestock within the outgoing cupboard.
Total, the Bharatiya Janata Occasion authorities has determined to retain six ministers from the earlier cupboard. Aside from the 4 who didn’t take oath, the record additionally consists of Sanghavi, who was promoted to deputy CM, and Praful Pancheriya, who was sworn in as minister of state. He was additionally a deputy minister within the outgoing cupboard.
The brand new cupboard has elevated illustration of ladies, tribal MLAs and MLAs from Saurashtra, and the BJP hopes to curb the rising affect of the Aam Aadmi Occasion.
The Gujarat Meeting has 182 members and might have a Council of Ministers consisting of as much as 27 MLAs.
“The brand new cupboard has a stability between all areas, castes and communities in Gujarat. We now have a great variety of girls MLAs and we even have robust younger gamers beneath the age of 40 like Harsh Sanghavi and Ribaba Jadeja,” Gujarat state BJP spokesperson Yagnesh Dave advised ThePrint.
Concentrate on Saurashtra, girls and tribals on the rise
Friday’s cupboard growth would be the largest since 2021, when then CM Vijay Rupani resigned alongside together with his whole cupboard, somewhat over a 12 months earlier than the 2022 meeting polls.
Officers mentioned Friday’s reshuffle is in view of the municipal elections in January-February 2026 throughout 15 municipal companies, 81 municipal companies, 32 district panchayats and 231 taluka panchayats.
Occasion leaders say the BJP desires to dispel anti-incumbency sentiment forward of the polls and counter the notion that the Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP) is gaining momentum in areas comparable to Saurashtra. In June, AAP’s Gopal Italia gained the Visavadar constituency within the polls, narrowly defeating the BJP’s Kirit Patel.
CM Patel’s new cupboard has 9 faces from Saurashtra, together with Bavaria and Solanki, who have been additionally a part of the earlier cupboard. The outgoing cupboard had 5 leaders from Saurashtra.
To extend illustration from Saurashtra, the BJP has additionally recalled Jitubhai Vaghani, a Patidar MLA from the area. Vaghani, an MLA from Bhavnagar West and Reuva Patidar, was the president of the Gujarat Individuals’s Occasion from 2016 to 2020. Mr. Vaghani, who led the Bharatiya Janata Occasion to victory within the 2017 Meeting and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, was a member of Bhupendra Patel’s first cupboard as a minister, schooling, science and expertise secretary, and the Patel authorities’s spokesperson.
Nevertheless, he was eliminated as a brand new Council of Ministers was shaped after the elections and the Cupboard was decreased to solely 17 ministers, together with the CM.
Vaghani was the second individual to take oath on Friday after Deputy CM Sanghavi.
The Saurashtra delegation additionally consists of Jamnagar North MLA Rivaba Jadeja, spouse of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, who joined the Bharatiya Janata Occasion in March 2019 and contested the 2022 meeting polls.
Friday’s growth additionally included Porbandar MLA Arjun Modhwadia, who resigned from the Congress in March 2024 to affix the BJP. Mr Modwadia was sworn in as a minister.
Gujarat’s new cupboard consists of eight ministers from Different Backward Lessons, 4 from tribals, three from Scheduled Castes, two from Kshatriyas, six from Patidar neighborhood, one Brahmin and one Jain. As well as, feminine illustration elevated from one member within the outgoing cupboard to a few.
The BJP has sacked Rajkot district MLA Bhanuben Babaria, who held a ministerial place within the outgoing cupboard. Within the new cupboard, all three girls – Jadeja, Darshana Vaghela and Manisha Vakil – have been appointed deputy ministers.
(Edited by Vinny Mishra)
Additionally learn: A twist to BJP’s technique: (nearly) whole Gujarat cupboard resigns forward of native polls
