
All ministers in the Gujarat government, except Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, resigned on Thursday ahead of a cabinet reshuffle. The Chief Minister has accepted their resignations and is expected to meet Governor Acharya Devvrat later today to stake a claim and form a new cabinet.
The reshuffle, to be overseen by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president JP Nadda, comes as the party gears up for the 2027 Assembly polls.
The cabinet comprised of 16 members including eight cabinet-rank ministers and nine ministers of state.
The reshuffle comes nearly three years into the current government’s term and just months before crucial local body elections across the state, including municipal corporations, municipalities, district panchayats, and taluka panchayats.
Under the provisions of the state assembly, which has a total strength of 182 members, Gujarat can have up to 27 ministers, or 15 per cent of the total strength of the House. Earlier this month, Minister of State Jagdish Vishwakarma was appointed as the new president of the BJP’s Gujarat unit, succeeding Union Minister C.R. Paatil. Bhupendra Patel, who first became Chief Minister in 2021, took oath for his second term on December 12, 2022.
According to reports, ministers Dharmendrasinh, Rishikesh Patel, Mukesh Patel, and Bhupendrasinh Chudasama are likely to retain their posts, while others such as Kanubhai Desai (Finance), Raghavji Patel (Agriculture), Kunvarji Bavaliya (Water Supply), and Murubhai Bera (Tourism) could be dropped.
New entrants to the cabinet may include Jayesh Radadiya, Shankar Chaudhary, Arjun Modhwadia, Jitu Vaghani, Reeva Jadeja, Alpesh Thakor, and others, as the BJP looks to reward both young leaders and OBC-Patidar representation, with the Saurashtra region expected to gain significantly.
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