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Gujarat’s cabinet has 24 new faces as CM Patel drops all Rupani ministers
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to ten cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including five ministers of state with independent charge
Three days after he became the chief minister of Gujarat, Bhupendra Patel inducted 24 ministers in his cabinet on Thursday.
Patel did not retain any of his predecessor Vijay Rupani’s ministers. The only old guard is assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi who resigned from that post earlier in the day. Trivedi is likely to get a key portfolio.
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to 10 cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including five ministers of state with independent charge. CM Patel was present at the Raj Bhavan ceremony, along with Rupani, whose sudden resignation from the post past Saturday led to the formation of the new ministry.
The cabinet ministers are Rajendra Trivedi, former state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani, Rushikesh Patel, Purnesh Modi, Raghavji Patel, Kanubhai Desai, Kiritsinh Rana, Naresh Patel, Pradip Parmar and Arjunsinh Chauhan.
The portfolios are likely to be announced in the evening after the first cabinet meeting, officials said.
CM Patel will hold a meeting of the new cabinet at 4.30pm today. “The first cabinet meeting of the Council of Ministers to be chaired by CM @Bhupendrapbjp will take place at 4.30pm today at Gandhinagar,” Gujarat’s CMO office tweeted.
The swearing-in was supposed to take place on Wednesday but had to be deferred following protests over the choice of ministers. (With agency inputs)
