Rupani does balancing act

Vijay Rupani, who took oath as the 16th chief minister of Gujarat on Tuesday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and host of dignitaries, appears to have done a balancing act in his new ministry.

Sworn in for the second time as the chief minister of the state, Rupani has brought back the old guard to meet the administrative and legislative experience needed to tackle the strengthened Opposition with 81 members in 182-seat Gujarat Assembly; get the caste and regional balance right and induct more youths.  

Along with Rupani and Nitin Patel, who took oath as the deputy chief minister, eight other Cabinet-ranked ministers and 10 Ministers of State were sworn in by Governor O P Kohli in Gandhinagar.

Rupani's ministry  has six Patels, six OBCs, three tribals, two from the Kshatriya community and one each from the Brahmin, Jain and Dalit community.

Thus, Patels and OBCs, who form almost 65%-70% of the state populace have again managed to secure a dominant place in the ministry.

There also appears to be a clear rural-urban representation, especially after the BJP took a heavy hit in rural areas.

Of the 20-member ministry, 13 come from rural constituencies, depicting the priority for BJP in the wake of Lok Sabha polls of 2019.

The Patel equation

Those who have withstood the massive wave of Patel quota stir, too, have been rewarded as Cabinet ministers.

These include Nitin Patel from Mehsana in north Gujarat, Saurabh Patel from Botad, Jayesh Radadia from Jetpur and R C Faldu from Jamnagar in Saurashtra region, Kaushik Patel from Naranpura in Ahmedabad as Cabinet ministers.

Kishore Kanani, who is from Varachha Road, the epicentre of Patel quota stir in Surat, has now made his debut as a minister and sworn-in as Minister of State.

Saurashtra-Kutch region

Once a BJP fortress, it has swung against the party these elections, but has managed maximum representation with seven ministers.

South Gujarat

This region had been complaining of lack of proper representation in the successive ministries.

This time, south Gujarat has got a Cabinet berth for Ganpat Vasava from Mangrol and Ministers of State Ishwar Parmar from Bardoli, Ramanlal Patkar from Umargaon and Ishwarsinh Patel from Ankleshwar, other than Kishore Kanani from Varachha.

North Gujarat

The epicentre of the Patidar reservation agitation has three ministers  - Nitin Patel himself representing the Patidar community, Dilip Thakor from Chanasma and Parbat Patel from Tharad.

Central Gujarat

It, too, has three representatives, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama from Dholka constituency as Cabinet minister and Bachubhai Khabad from Devgadh Baria and Jaydrathsinh Parmar from Halol as Ministers of State.

Ahmedabad

The city of Ahmedabad has two ministers, Kaushik Patel from Naranpura as Cabinet minister and Pradipsinh Jadeja as Minister of State.

The portfolios for the ministers are likely to be announced later.