New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bhupendra Patel on Monday took oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for a second straight term in Gandhinagar in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and other dignitaries.
Patel was administered the oath as the 18th chief minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a ceremony at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat.
BJP MLAs Kanubhai Desai, Rushikesh Patel, Raghavji Patel, Kuvarji Bavaliya, Mulubhai Bera, Kuber Dindor, Bhanuben Babariya, and Balwantsinh Rajput took oath as Cabinet ministers.
Parshottam Solanki, Bachubhai Khabad, Mukesh Patel, Praful Pansheriya, Bhikhusinh Parmar, and Kunvarji Halpati took oath as ministers of state. Harsh Sanghavi and Jagdish Vishwakarma took oath as ministers of state (Independent charge).
Besides the Prime Minister and Shah, chief ministers of other BJP-ruled states also attended the ceremony. UP CM Yogi Adityanath, MP CM Shivraj Chouhan, Karnataka CM Basvaraj Bommai, Assam CM Himata Biswa Sarma, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami and Tripura CM Manik Saha were among the attendees.
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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.
The Chief Minister won the Ghatlodia seat with the highest margin of 1.92 lakh votes in the elections. A low-profile BJP leader, Bhupendra Patel replaced Vijay Rupani as Chief Minister in September 2021.
(With Agency Inputs)