Gandhinagar: Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday reshuffled his cabinet by inducting 19 MLAs as ministers, taking the total strength of his council of ministers, including himself, to 26, and elevated junior home minister Harsh Sanghavi to the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers as well as those who were elevated to the cabinet rank and given MoS independent charge from ministers of state.
Sanghavi, who represents the Munjara assembly constituency in Surat city, took oath as the deputy CM. Till now, he held the post of Minister of State for Home.
Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to the 25 cabinet inductees. The cabinet strength now stands at 26, including chief minister Bhupendra Patel.
The move to bring in new faces to the cabinet comes just three years into the government’s formation, and two years ahead of the 2027 Legislative Assembly elections.
Earlier today, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel held a courtesy meeting with Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat. During the meeting, Patel briefed the Governor on the current status of the state Cabinet and sought approval to hold the oath-taking ceremony for new ministers.
A day ahead of the planned expansion, all 16 ministers except Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel tendered their resignations.
The previous cabinet under CM Patel included 17 members in total — with eight holding cabinet rank and the remaining serving as Ministers of State (MoS).
Gujarat, which has a 182-member assembly, can have a maximum of 27 ministers (15 per cent of the strength of the House).
Earlier this month, MoS Jagdish Vishwakarma became the new president of the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) unit, replacing Union minister C R Paatil. Party sources told ANI that Vishwakarma’s name would not be included in the council of ministers this time due to the BJP’s ‘one person, one post’ policy.
The cabinet expansion is being viewed as an effort to infuse fresh energy into the administration and reinforce the BJP’s governance structure in Gujarat.
