The Gujarat BJP government recently revealed a new 25-member cabinet, with Harsh Sanghavi, the state’s Home Minister, being sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister, and Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, also taking on a ministerial role. Sanghavi, who won by a significant margin in the 2022 Assembly elections, became the Deputy Chief Minister under Bhupendra Patel at the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar in the presence of Governor Acharya Devvrat.
Among the familiar faces in the new Cabinet were six returning ministers: Rishikesh Patel, Kanubhai Desai, Kunwarji Bavaliya, Praful Panseria, Parshottam Solanki, and Sanghavi himself. Four ministers retained their positions without needing to retake the oath. Additionally, a group of new leaders joined the Cabinet, representing diverse communities such as OBCs, Patidars, tribals, Scheduled Castes, Kshatriyas, Brahmins, and Jains.
Today’s Cabinet reshuffle in Gujarat marked the most significant change since September 2021 when the former Chief Minister and his entire ministry stepped down following directives from the BJP high-command. The oath-taking ceremony followed a briefing by Bhupendra Patel to Governor Devvrat on the Gujarat Cabinet’s status. Notably, all ministers, except the Chief Minister, submitted their resignations on Thursday.
With a maximum allowance of 27 ministers in the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the recent reshuffle aimed to reflect a balanced representation of various communities in the state. Bhupendra Patel, who started his second term as Chief Minister on December 12, 2022, recently completed five years in office.