Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 16: Ahead of a cabinet reshuffle, the Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel on Thursday collected the resignations from all the 16 ministers to install a new cabinet on Friday.
All the 16 ministers including eight cabinet ranked, two ministers of state with independent charges and six ministers of state, submitted their resignations to the chief minister to give and the party leadership a free hand to reshuffle the cabinet, the first since Mr Patel took oath of office for the second time in December, 2022.
The swearing-in of the new cabinet is expected to be held on Friday morning at the spacious Mahatma Mandir in the state capital city of Gandhinagar. The union home minister Amit Shah and the BJP national president and union minister JP Nadda are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
A senior BJP leader said the ministers were told to submit their resignations by the afternoon to give the chief minister and the party leadership a free hand to carry out what has been described by a party leader as a “strategic reset” ahead of the local body elections and the 2027 assembly elections.
The chief minister, who has led the state since September, 2021, taking over from the now-deceased Vijay Rupani, held a meeting with the ministers after their resignations. The ministers have started vacating their offices, a party official said. But they have been told to stay put in the state capital with the possibility of several of them to be re-inducted in the new cabinet.
The chief minister is expected to meet the governor Acharya Devdutt on Thursday night or Friday morning to submit him the list of new cabinet members. The governor, who also holds charge of Maharashtra, is expected to reach Gandhinagar by Thursday night.
A BJP leader said Patel’s new team would have about 22-23 ministers. Only 4-5 ministers from the outgoing team are likely to be retained in the new team. The State, with a 182-member Assembly, can have up to 27 Ministers — 15% of the total strength.
The newly appointed state BJP president, Jagdish Vishwakarma, is unlikely to be retained in line with the party’s “one person, one post” rule. The government may also revive the post of deputy chief minister, with Harsh Sanghvi and Kunvarji Halpati among the likely contenders, a BJP leader said. The move is seen as part of the BJP’s strategy on promoting young leaders and rewarding performance within its state unit.
The reshuffle is also likely to see the induction of first-time MLA Rivaba Jadeja from Jamnagar, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, marking her debut in the state Cabinet. The reshuffle follows the appointment of Minister of State Jagdish Vishwakarma as the new BJP state president earlier this month, replacing Union Minister C R Paatil.