Vijay Rupani sworn in as Gujarat Chief Minister

Vijay Rupani was sworn in as the 16th chief minister of Gujarat on Sunday, after a week of uncertainty within the ruling BJP following the resignation of Anandiben Patel. Nitin Patel took oath as the deputy chief minister.

Governor O P Kohli administered the oath of office to Rupani, Nitin and 23 ministers — seven Cabinet rank and 16 ministers of state — at the Mahatma Mandir convention centre here.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by BJP national president Amit Shah, veteran leader L K Advani, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Chief Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana), Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra) and Raghubir Das (Jharkhand), and outgoing chief minister Anandiben. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have called up Rupani and his team and congratulated them.

“We will hold the first Cabinet meeting tomorrow and portfolios will be announced soon,” Rupani said. He refused to comment on whether regional sensitivities had played a role in the formation of his new council of ministers. “Everything after tomorrow,” was all Rupani said.

Those in

Those retained from the previous government include Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, who continues to hold a Cabinet rank. Two junior ministers in the Anandiben ministry, Jayesh Radadia and Dilip Thakor, have been elevated to the Cabinet rank. Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly and tribal leader Ganpat Vasava as well as deputy speaker and member of the Dalit community Atmaram Parmar have also been elevated to Cabinet ministers.

There is only one woman legislator, Nirmala Wadhwani from Ahmedabad, in the 25-member ministry.

Those out

Rupani, known to be an Amit Shah confidant, has dropped nine ministers from the previous regime and inducted 11 new faces. Significant among those dropped include Saurabh Patel, the only English-speaking minister incharge of key portfolios like energy and industries in the previous Modi and Anandiben governments. The murmurs at the swearing-in ceremony suggest that perhaps the Modi-Shah duo have a Central role for him. However, no one could confirm this.

The other notable leader who did not find a place in the new Cabinet is Ramanlal Vora, a Dalit and social justice minister. Vora has reportedly been dropped for not effectively handling the Dalit flogging incident in Una and quelling the rising anger of the community members against the BJP in the state. Home Minister Rajni Patel was also shown the door. His inept handling of the year-long Patel agitation and Una incident may have led to his exclusion.

Rupani also dropped Vasumatiben Trivedi, who was the only woman minister in the Anandiben regime.