Vijay Rupani and Nitin Patel were sworn in as Gujarat Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively for a second stint along with 19 Ministers at a grand function here on Tuesday, days after the BJP's narrow victory in the state assembly polls.The function held in the lawns of the Gandhinagar state secretariat, was attended by a horde of BJP dignitaries including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and national BJP president Amit Shah.Rupani, who won the Rajkot West constituency seat with a whopping margin of over 54,000 votes over his Congress rival Indranil Rajyaguru, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor O.P. Kohli. Rupani served as Chief Minister from August 7, 2016 till the 2017 elections, following Anandiben Patel's resignation as Chief Minister citing the age factor.Nitin Patel, who won the Mehsana constituency seat with a argin of around 6,000 votes, had also served at the newly-created position of Deputy Chief Minister from the time of Anandiben's resignation.Nine cabinet Ministers and 10 Ministers of State were also sworn in.Ranchodbhai Chanabhai Faldu, who was an MLA of BJP in 1998-2002, 2002-2007 and was also state BJP president, was the first to be sworn in as cabinet Minister.Bhupendrasinh Manubha Chudasama, who won the Dholka constituency seat with a meagre margin of 350 votes, was sworn in. Since 2012 he has been a cabinet Minister.The other cabinet ministers sworn in were Saurabh Patel (Dalal) who also won on a thin margin of around 900 votes from Botad constituency. Dalal was also a former cabinet Minister during Narendra Modi and Anandiben's reign. He was removed from the cabinet after the Rupani government was formed last year.
Ganapat Vasava, Jayesh Radadia, Dilip Thakore were sworn in as cabinet ministers. They were also part of the cabinet in the previous government. he new faces that were inducted were Kaushikbhai Jamanadas Patel, who had served as Minister of State for energy, urban development epartments and cabinet minister of energy, in the earlier BJP governments.Another new face as cabinet minister was Ishwarbhai Parmar, who was a Minster of State in the Rupani government. Other than that 10 Ministers of State were also sworn in.Chief Ministers of 18 of the states led by the BJP were also present. Apart from that senior BJP leader L.K. Advani and Union Ministers were also present in the function.After the oath ceremony, Modi took to Twitter assuring the people of Gujarat that the BJP government will leave no stone unturned in further developing the state, which the party has ruled since 1995.
"Congratulations to Vijay Rupani, Nitin Patel and all those who took oath as Ministers. My best wishes to this team in their endeavour to take Gujarat to new heights of progress," Modi said."People from all walks of life joined the oath taking ceremony in Gandhinagar to bless the team that took oath today. We cherish these blessings and their affection," he said."Political leaders, Chief Ministers of various states, our esteemed NDA allies and respected former Chief Ministers of Gujarat joined the occasion, making it even more special," the Prime Minister said.Modi, who was Gujarat's Chief Minister between 2001 and 2014, went nostalgic and shared pictures of the ceremonies when he took oath in the past."Attending today's oath taking ceremony in Gujarat brought back memories of the ceremonies in 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2012 when I got the opportunity to serve Gujarat as CM," he said."I would once again like to thank the people of Gujarat for giving the BJP this opportunity to serve the state. The bond between Gujarat and BJP is extremely special. I assure my Gujarati sisters and brothers that we will leave no stone unturned in further developing Gujarat," Modi added.Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who also attended the oath ceremony here, tweeted, "Attended the oath-taking ceremony of Vijay Rupani as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. I am confident that Gujarat will continue its forward march on road to development and prosperity under the able leadership of Rupani."