Major rejig: 19 new faces in Gujarat Cabinet, Harsh Sanghavi is Deputy CM
Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel reshuffles his cabinet, inducting 19 new ministers and retaining six. Harsh Sanghavi becomes Deputy CM, while Rivaba Jadeja joins as MoS. The council now has 26 members, with increased women representation ahead of 2027 elections
Gandhinagar: In a major reshuffle, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday inducted 19 fresh faces in his council of ministers and retained six from his previous team, including Harsh Sanghavi who was elevated as Deputy CM, while cricketer Ravindra Jadeja’s wife Rivaba too made the cut.
With this rejig, the total strength of the council of ministers has now gone up to 26, including the CM, from 17 earlier. Gujarat, which has a 182-member assembly, can have a maximum of 27 ministers (15 per cent of the strength of the House).
The cabinet restructuring took place two years before the State Assembly elections in 2027 and months ahead of the local bodies polls.
Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office and secrecy to all new ministers and to those who were elevated to the cabinet rank or given the MoS independent charge.
Sanghavi, MLA from Majura constituency in Surat who held the position of Minister of State for Home in the previous cabinet, rose to the number two position of deputy CM. This is for the first time in the last four years under Patel’s term as CM that a deputy CM has been appointed in the state.
The post was last held by Nitin Patel in the government led by former CM late Vijay Rupani before it was discontinued in 2021.
Six MLAs, including Sanghavi, who were earlier minister in Patel government till Thursday, have been retained in the reshuffled cabinet. Though 16 ministers had resigned on Thursday, the resignations of these six ministers were not accepted by the CM.
While three of these six – Kanubhai Patel, Rushikesh Patel and Kunvarji Bavalia – were earlier cabinet ministers, Sanghavi, Praful Pansheriya and Purshottam Solanki were MoS. Of them, only Sanghavi, who has been elevated to the post of deputy CM, and Pansheriya, given MoS with independent charge, took fresh oaths on Friday.
Jitu Vaghani, Arjun Modhwadia and Manisha Vakil are some of the MLAs who were given an opportunity to work as ministers.
Modhwadia, who represents the Porbandar assembly constituency, took oath as cabinet minister. He had earlier held the position of president of the Gujarat Congress and also leader of opposition in the state assembly, and switched over to the ruling BJP in March 2024.
A surprise entry into the cabinet is that of Rivaba Jadeja who took oath as a minister of state. Her cricketer husband Ravindra Jadeja and their daughter attended the oath-taking ceremony.
Of the 19 new ministers, Jitu Vaghani, Manisha Vakil, Ishwarsinh Patel and Naresh Patel have served as ministers at different points in time in the BJP governments in the state.
Of the 25 ministers now in the council of ministers, nine are of cabinet rank, three MoS with independent charge and 13 MoS.
The CM dropped 10 ministers in the reshuffle, including senior leaders like industries minister Balwantsinh Rajput, agriculture minister Raghavji Patel, social justice and empowerment minister Bhanuben Babariya and forest and environment minister Mulu Bera.
Representation of women has increased in the new council of ministers as three women are now part of it as against one earlier.
Earlier this month, MoS Jagdish Vishwakarma became the new president of the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit, replacing Union minister C R Paatil. Vishwakarma was not included in the council of ministers due to the one person one post policy of BJP, party sources said.
Patel became Chief Minister for the second time on December 12, 2022.
