Bhupendra Patel takes oath as Gujarat chief minister

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Bhupendra Patel on Monday took oath as the 17th chief minister of Gujarat. Patel was appointed to the top post on Sunday, a day after Vijay Rupani and his entire Cabinet resigned.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders such as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan attended Patel’s oath-taking ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar.

Patel, 59, is a first-time MLA who won the Ghatlodia seat in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections. He defeated Congress candidate Shashikant Patel by more than 1.17 lakh votes, the highest winning margin in the polls. He is from the Kadva sub-group of the Patidar community.

Patel was seen as a surprise choice for the top post in Gujarat as there was speculation that either Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya or fisheries minister Parshottam Rupala might be chosen for it, NDTV reported.

Rupani’s resignation

Rupani stepped down from the chief minister’s post on Saturday without giving any reason for the move. The Congress alleged that BJP had made him a “scapegoat” to hide its mismanagement of the coronavirus crisis in Gujarat.

Rupani is the fourth BJP chief minister to resign from his post this year. On July 26, BS Yediyurappa had resigned as the Karnataka chief minister while Tirath Singh Rawat quit as the Uttarakhand chief minister…

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