Bhupendra Patel who has never held a ministerial post has taken the oath as the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat.
New Delhi: First-term MLA Bhupendra Patel was sworn in on Monday as the 17th chief minister of Gujarat. Union Home Minister Amit Shah attended the swearing-in ceremony.
Bhupendra Patel was sworn in by the Governor of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat.
Union Interior Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar were also present at the ceremony.
Former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and State CM MP Nitin Patel also attended the swearing-in ceremony.
As BJP sources said earlier, only Patel was sworn in on Monday, as a decision regarding Gujarat’s new cabinet has yet to be made by the party.
It comes two days after Vijay Rupani’s surprise exit from the post, a year before Assembly polls
The choice of the party’s CM came as a surprise to many, as the low-profile first lawmaker was not seen as one of the top contenders for the post.
Who is Bhupendra Patel?
Born in Ahmedabad, Patel is an MP from the seat of Ghatlodia, previously held by the former chief minister and now governor of Uttar Pradesh, Anandiben Patel. He won the seat by more than 1.17 lakh votes in 2017, the highest margin in this poll. Ghatlodia is part of the constituency of Gandhinagar Lok Sabha represented by Shah.
Patel, who holds a degree in civil engineering, served as a municipal councilor of Ahmedabad and chairman of the standing committee of the Ahmedabad municipal corporation and the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority. He is also a director of the Patidar Sardardham and Vishwa Umiya Foundation organizations.
With state assembly polls slated for December 2022, the BJP is banking on Bhupendra Patel, a Patidar, to lead the party. In the 2017 parliamentary elections, the BJP won 99 of 182 seats and Congress won 77.
Bhupendra Patel to benefit BJP in upcoming Gujarat polls
The Patidars are a dominant caste in Gujarat with significant control over electoral votes and dominate the political economy with a stronghold on the education, real estate, and cooperative sectors.
At Sunday’s legislative party meeting, the proposal to elect Patel as head of the legislative party was put forward by CM Vijay Rupani, whose resignation on Saturday, 15 months before the state assembly elections, has surprised many political observers, as reported by the PTI.
Patel has never held a ministerial post, as has Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who never served as a minister when he became Gujarat CM 20 years ago. Modi was sworn in as CM on October 7, 2001, and became a provincial deputy on February 24, 2002, winning the Rajkot seat by-poll.
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