Gandhinagar: The BJP on Thursday inducted 24 members, including 21 who debuted as ministers, into the four-day-old Bhupendra Patel-led ministry, discarding all ministers in the previous Vijay Rupani-led regime in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, a year ahead of the Assembly polls.
There is no Deputy Chief Minister in the new ministry. The post was held by Nitin Patel in the Rupani-led ministry.
Political observers say the BJP expects to make a significant impact ahead of the 2022 state polls with this new-look ministry. The party expects to face the voters with a clean slate, they added.
With the fresh inductions, which include two women, the strength of the ministry led by Patel, a first-term MLA and minister, has gone up to 25.
Modi congratulated the new ministers.
Congratulations to all Party colleagues who have taken oath as Ministers in the Gujarat Government. These are outstanding Karyakartas who have devoted their lives to public service and spreading our Party's development agenda. Best wishes for a fruitful tenure ahead, Modi tweeted.
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to 10 Cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including five Ministers of State with Independent charge.
Those sworn in at the 1.30 pm Raj Bhavan ceremony include former Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi and former state BJP president Jitu Vaghani.
The ministry formation exercise shows that the party has tried to balance caste and regional representation.
After picking Patel, a Patidar community leader as the CM, the BJP has given berth to six Patidars and OBCs each, four from Scheduled Tribes, three from Scheduled Castes, two each from among Brahmins and Kshatriyas and one member from the Jain community.
Like the CM, who is considered close to Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, the new Cabinet minister Rishikesh Patel and Minister of State with Independent charge Jagdish Panchal, are also considered close to the former Gujarat CM.
Cabinet ministers Rajendra Trivedi and Kiritsinh Rana are old-timers and considered close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while Minister of State Harsh Sanghvi is known to be close to state BJP president C R Paatil.
Bhupendra Patel chaired the first meeting of the Council of Ministers, soon after the swearing-in ceremony.
A party source said there is widespread dissatisfaction over the dropping of senior ministers, who held key posts in the Rupani ministry.