First-time MLA from Ahmedabad, 59-years-old Bhupendra Patel on Monday was sworn in as 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat, two days after Vijay Rupani's abrupt ouster from the post.
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office at Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar.
The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Union home minister Amit Shah along with scores of BJP leaders and chief ministers of neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka and Haryana.
Before taking the oath, the new chief minister visited the house of his predecessor Vijay Rupani, outgoing deputy chief minister Nitin Patel and party's state president C R Patil.
He did "gau pooja" at Swaminarayan temple in Ahmedabad and also visited Lord Jagannath temple before heading to Ahmedabad airport as CM-designate to receive Shah and other leaders for the oath-taking event. The council of ministers will take oath in a coming couple of days.
The low-profile Patel, who is a builder by profession, took oath at exactly 2:20 pm in presence of Shah, Pramod Sawant, Basavraj Bommai, Manohar Lal Khattar and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, his counterparts of Goa, Karnataka, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. Rupani, Nitin Patel and other outgoing ministers were also present at Raj Bhawan.
Soon after the oath ceremony, Patel reached Swarnim Sankul, the building housing the Chief Minister Office and took over the charge. Patel emerged as a "dark horse" in the race for the CM's post as his name hadn't been featured in the list of probables.
Party claims that he was unanimously elected by the legislature party but it is no secret that he was handpicked from the party high command from Delhi. He is an MLA from the Ghatlodia Assembly constituency in Ahmedabad, which used to be represented by ex-chief minister Anandiben Patel.
Patel holds a diploma in civil engineering and has served Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority and Standing Committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation as chairman. Patel's ascent to power is said to be BJP's attempt to woo Patidar votes ahead of 2022 Assembly polls. He is also the first Kadva Patel, a sub-caste of Patidar, to be the chief minister.
Patel took over the charge from Rupani who completed five years in office in August. He was handpicked by the party in August 2016 and led the 2017 Assembly polls which BJP barely managed to pull off.
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