Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bhupendra Patel on Monday will take oath as the chief minister of Gujarat for the second consecutive term, in the presence of Prime Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, and at least 20 CMs of BJP-ruled states.
The ceremony of the Ghatlodia MLA, who won with a record margin of 1.92 lakh votes, will take place in Gandhinagar at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat at 2 PM. He will be administered the oath as the 18th chief minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat.
Also Read: Full list of ministers who won and lost in Gujarat Elections 2022
Along with the 60-year-old Patel, some new ministers are also likely to take oath. Among the ministers who are likely to be inducted in the Bhupendra Patel-led Cabinet would likely include MLAs Kanu Desai, Raghavji Patel, Rushikesh Patel, Harsh Sanghavi, Shankar Chaudhary, Purnesh Modi, Manisha Vakil, Ramanlal Vora and Raman Patkar, PTI reported, quoting sources.
It was a massive win for the saffron party in the Gujarat elections which was held in two phases in December, with the BJP winning a historic 156 seats in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly. While the Congress, in one of its worst performances in the state, won 17 seats, new player Aam Aadmi Party won five seats.
On Friday, Patel resigned as the CM along with the entire cabinet to make way for the formation of the new government. 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 is the first from the Kadva Patidar sub-group to become CM, and replaced former CM Vijay Rupani in 2021.
Also Read: Gujarat: Full list of ministers in Bhupendra Patel cabinet
A committee of IAS officers are overseeing the preparations for the ceremony, for which a temporary structure has been erected at the helipad ground that can accommodate around 20,000 people, reported The Indian Express.
Nearly 10-15 union ministers, along with party office-bearers of taluka and city levels, sitting and former MPs and MLAs from the party, office-bearers of various morchas, chairmen/vice-chairmen and directors of APMCs, sarpanches of gram panchayats are also likely to attend the December 12 function
PM Modi arrived in Gujarat on Sunday night to take part in the swearing-in ceremony.
