New Gujarat Cabinet Ministers Get Portfolios, CM Patel Keeps Home Ministry

The swearing-in ceremony, earlier scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed due to reports of infighting in the BJP.

The Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvrat administered oath to 24 ministers in the new Cabinet.

Photo: Twitter / RaghavjiBhai Patel, Harsh Sanghavi, Manisha Vakil

Altered by The Quint

Portfolios were allocated to the 24 newly-inducted ministers of the Gujarat cabinet hours after the Governor of Gujarat Acharya Devvrat administered oath to the ministers at the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar on Thursday, 16 September.

Chief Minister (CM) Bhupendra Patel and former CM Vijay Rupani were present at the ceremony.

Patel did not retain any of the Rupani administration ministers. The 24 ministers included 10 Cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including five ministers of state with independent charge.

Kanubhai Desai, Kiritsinh Rana, Naresh Patel, Pradip Parmar, Arjun Singh Chauhan, Rajendra Trivedi, Jitu Vaghani, Hrishikesh Patel, Purnesh Modi, and Raghavji Patel were among the first to be sworn in as Gujarat ministers.

Harsh Sanghvi, Jagdish Panchal, Brijesh Merja, Jitu Choudhary, and Manisha Vakil were sworn in as ministers of state with independent charges.

The Portfolios

Along with the Home Ministry, Patel kept the portfolios of General Administration Department, Information and Broadcast, Industries, Mines and Minerals, Capital Projects, Urban Development, Urban Housing and Narmada and Ports.

CM Patel did not appoint any of the ministers as the deputy CM.

Here is the list of ministers and the portfolios they were allocated:

• Mukesh Patel - Agriculture and Energy Petrochemicals

• Nimisha Suthar - Tribal Development and Health and Family Welfare

• Arvind Raiani - Transportation, Civil Aviation, Tourism

• Kuber Dindor - Higher and Technical Education Statutory and Parliamentary Affairs

• Kiritsinh Vaghela - Primary, Secondary and Adult Education

• Gajendrasinh Parmar - Food Civil Supplies

• Raghavji Makwana - Social Justice Empowerment

• Vinu Mordia - Urban Development and Urban Housing

• Devabhai Malam - Animal Husbandry and Cow Breeding

• Harsh Sanghvi - Minister of State for Home Affairs, Sports, Youth Service and Cultural Activities

• Jagdish Panchal - Cottage Industry

• Brijesh Merja (Morbi) - Labor employment

• Jitubhai Chaudhary - Kalpsar, Fisheries

• Manisha Vakil - Women and Child Welfare

• Rajendra Trivedi - Revenue and Law, Statutory Parliamentary Affairs

• Jitubhai Vaghani - Minister of Education

• Hrishikesh Patel - Minister of Health, Water Resources and Water Supply

• Purnesh Modi - Roads and Buildings, Transport, Civil Aviation, Travel and Pilgrimage

• Raghavji Patel - Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Cattle Breeding

• Kanubhai Desai - Ministry of Finance

• Kiritsinh Rana - Forest Environment, Climate Change, Printing, Stationery

• Naresh Patel - Forest Environment Tribe

• Pradeep Parmar - Social Justice and Empowerment

• Arjun Singh Chauhan - Rural Development and Rural Housing

PM Modi Congratulates Cabinet

Congratulating the newly inducted ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on Twitter: "These are outstanding Karyakartas who have devoted their lives to public service and spreading our Party’s development agenda."

The oath ceremony was earlier scheduled for Wednesday, 15 September, but was later postponed to Thursday due to reports of infighting in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Revolt Is Unlikely: Reports

Senior leaders in the party were reaching out to those who were likely to be dropped as ministers, ANI reported.

"There is a massive exercise going on to see that leaders who won't be accommodated in the cabinet do not feel left out," sources said, as per ANI.

NDTV reported that many senior ministers, who feared being dropped, were unwilling to give in. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel was reportedly fighting to keep his place.

However, NDTV quoted sources as saying that a revolt was unlikely as Amit Shah was engineering the entire exercise on the insistence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Even the top leaders will have to accept whatever the leadership says because of the stature of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and no politician, especially in the BJP in Gujarat, can openly challenge the calls they take," an MLA was quoted as saying by NDTV.

What Happened on Wednesday

The oath ceremony was scheduled to be held on Wednesday but was deferred at the last minute. Elaborate arrangements had been made at the Governor's House, where large hoardings were also put up. In addition, a stage had been erected inside the Raj Bhavan, and the police were deployed in large numbers. Banners outside the Raj Bhavan initially showed 15 September as the date of swearing-in. Later, all the banners were taken down, and the governor's office said the event had been postponed to Thursday.

NDTV had quoted sources saying that the differences over the new council of ministers led to the sudden rescheduling.

BJP leader Bhupendra Patel took oath as the 17th chief minister of Gujarat on Monday, 13 September.

(With inputs from ANI, NDTV, The Hindu, Hindustan Times and PTI.)