Gandhinagar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bhupendra Patel took oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for a second straight term in Gandhinagar on Monday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and other dignitaries.
Patel was administered the oath as the 18th Gujarat CM by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a function held at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat.
Besides the prime minister and Shah, chief ministers of other BJP-ruled states also attended the ceremony.
Along with the CM, eight cabinet ministers, two state ministers with independent charge and six state ministers also took oath.
The big names in the Patel cabinet are: Kanu Desai, Raghavji Patel, Rushikesh Patel, Balwant Singh Rajput, Bhanuben Bawaria, Kuber Bhai Dindor, Iyer Mullubhai Bera, Kuwarji Bawaria, Harsh Sanghavi, Jagadish Vishwakarma, Purushottam Solanki, Mukesh Bhai Patel, Praful Panseria, Bhikhu Singh Parmar and Bachubhai Maganbhai Khabar.
In the just-concluded Gujarat Assembly elections, counting for which was held on December 8, the BJP won a seventh straight term by winning record 156 seats in the 182-member House. The Congress won 17 constituencies and AAP 5.
Patel, 60, resigned as chief minister along with his entire cabinet on Friday to pave the way for the formation of a new government following the election results.
He was elected as the leader of the BJP legislative party on Saturday, following which he met the governor and staked the claim to form the next government.
Patel won the Ghatlodia seat with the highest margin of 1.92 lakh votes in the elections.
A low-profile BJP leader and the first from the Kadva Patidar sub-group to become CM, Patel replaced Vijay Rupani in September 2021.
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