Vijay Rupani takes charges as the next Chief Minister of Gujarat

Holding the record of forming the government for consecutively 6 times in Gujarat, the new BJP government, led by Vijay Rupani, was sworn in a grand ceremony in Gujarat capital Gandhinagar on Tuesday. Administering the oath of office, Governor Om Prakash Kohli led the process and Secrecy to 20 Ministers, including Mr Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel.

The oath-taking ceremony witnessed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President Amit Shah, Chief Ministers of various BJP-ruled States, and other senior party leaders attended the functions, which was held at the new Secretariat complex.

A total of 19 Ministers including Mr Rupani and Mr Nitin Patel – nine of them in the Cabinet rank and 10 Ministers of State (MoS) – were sworn in.

Cabinet Ministers are Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, R.C Faldu, Kaushik Patel, Saurabh Patel, Ganpat Vasava, Jayesh Radadiya and Ishwarbhai R. Parmar.

MoS are Pradipsinh Jadeja, Parbatbhai Patel, Jaydrathsinh Parmar, Ramanlal Nanubhai Patkar, Parsottam Solanki, Ishwarsinh Patel, Vasanbhai Ahir, Kishor Kanani, Bachubhai Maganbhai Khabad and Vibhavari Dave.

Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Babu Bokhiria, who won from Porbandar, has been dropped. Vallabh Kakadia, who held the Transport portfolio in the previous government, has also been dropped.

Before the swearing-in ceremony, Mr Rupani, sporting an orange-coloured jacket, and Mr Patel greeted the Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States.

Mr Rupani and his wife also offered prayers at the Panchdev Mahadev temple before the swearing-in ceremony.

With 99 MLAs, the BJP has a simple majority in the 182-member Assembly, 16 less than its 2012 tally of 1915.