Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Tuesday assumed charge of his office in Gandhinagar. The CM, along with his Council of Ministers, took oath on Monday in a star-studded swearing-in ceremony, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home minister Amit Shah, union ministers as well as chief ministers of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states.
The oath to the office was administered to Patel as the 18th CM of the state and the ministers by Governor Acharya Devvrat at the Helipad Ground in Gandhinagar. Following the oath-taking ceremony, on Monday evening, portfolios were allocated to ministers in the Cabinet meeting that was presided by over Patel. A total of 16 ministers were administered oath alongside the Chief Minister.
Patel retained the portfolios of Home, General Administration, Revenue, Disaster Management, Urban Development and Urban Housing, Pilgrimage Development, Panchayat, Science and Technology, Roads and Building, Narmada, Ports and Information and Broadcasting.
In a historic win, the BJP clinched 156 seats in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly in the elections that were held in December. Polling was held in two phases in December – 1 and 5, and the counting of votes took place on Dcember 8.
In the 2017 elections, the saffron party won 99 seats. The 2022 result was historic for the BJP as it beat all the records in the state, securing more than the Congress’ highest-ever tally of 149 in 1985, and the 127 seats the BJP bagged in 2002.
Patel, 60, who was contesting from the Ghatlodia Assembly seat won with a huge margin of 1.92 lakh votes over his nearest rival, Congress candidate Amee Yagnik.
Born on July 15, 1962, in a Gujarati family in Ahmedabad, Bhupendra Patel is a builder by profession. He is a member of the ideological fountainhead of the BJP, which is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
His foray into politics began in the 1990s when he won the elections from the Memnagar Nagarpalika in the 1990s. He fought his first major election in 2010 as a corporator from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).
In 2021, he succeeded former CM Vijay Rupani and was unanimously elected as the BJP legislative party leader and the CM elect of Gujarat. He was sworn in as the 17th CM of the state on September 13, 2021.