Gujarat cabinet expansion: Meet the new ministers in Bhupendra Patel's government

New Delhi, Sep 16: After delaying the swearing-in ceremony of new ministers in Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel's cabinet at the last minute on Wednesday, the oath-taking ceremony is held at 1.30 pm a day later at Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar.

The BJP has replaced the ministers of the previous Vijay Rupani's government with fresh faces.

Kanubhai Desai, Kiritsinh Rana, Naresh Patel, Pradipsinh Parmar, Rajendra Trivedi, Jitu Vaghani, Rushikesh Patel, Raghavji Patel, Purnesh Modi and Arjunsinh Chauhan among several others are taking oath as cabinet ministers in Bhupendra Patel's government.

24 ministers have been inducted into the cabinet, including 10 cabinet ministers.

Cabinet Ministers:

Rajendra Trivedi (Raopura MLA, former Cabinet Minister)
Jiten Vaghani (Bhavnagar West MLA, former state BJP president)
Rushikesh Patel (Visnagar MLA)
Purnesh Modi (Surat West MLA)
Raghavjibhai Patel (Jamnagar Gramya MLA, former Cabinet Minister)
Kanubhai Desai (Pardi MLA)
Kiritsinh Rana (Limbdi MLA, former MoS)
Nareshbhai Patel (Gandevi MLA)
Pradeep Parmar (Asarwa MLA)
Arjunsinh Chauhan (Mahemdavad MLA)
Ministers of State (Independent Charge):
Harsh Sanghavi (Majura MLA)
Jagdish Panchal (Nikol MLA)
Brijesh Merja (Morbi MLA)
Jitubhai Chaudhary (Kaprada MLA)
Manisha Vakil (Vadodara City MLA)

Ministers of State:

Mukesh Patel (Olpad MLA)
Nimisha Suthar (Morva Hadaf MLA)
Arvind Rayani (Rajkot East MLA)
Kuberbhai Dindor (Santrampur MLA)
Kirtisinh Vaghela (Kankrej MLA)
Gajendrasinh Parmar (Prantij MLA)
Raghavbhai Makwana (Mahuva MLA)
Vinod Moradiya (Katargam MLA)
Devabhai Malam (Keshod MLA)

The event was supposed to be held on Wednesday, but it was rescheduled due to infighting in the Gujarat BJP over the posts, sources said.

In a surprising turn of events, Vijay Rupani resigned as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and he was replaced by Bhupendra Patel.

He was unanimously elected as the BJP legislature party leader and was sworn in as the state's 17th chief minister by the governor in Gandhinagar on Monday, 13 September. Patel's elevation is being attributed to his closeness to former Gujarat Chief Minister and current Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel.

With an eye on Gujarat 2022 elections, the BJP has made the changes.