Patel takes oath as 17th Gujarat Chief Minister

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 13

First-term MLA Bhupendra Patel was today administered the oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat by Governor Acharya Devvrat two days after Vijay Rupani’s surprise exit from the post a few months away from the Assembly elections to the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Reviews flood ops

After the swearing-in ceremony, Bhupendra Patel held a meeting with senior officials to review the flood-like situation in Saurashtra region
He instructed the authorities to airlift stranded persons in Jamnagar district and called up Jamnagar collector and asked him to expedite rescue operations

Shah and Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states, including Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Goa CM Pramod Sawant, were present on the occasion. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the new CM, saying he has “known him for years and seen his exemplary work” in the party civic administration and community service.

Earlier, after his meeting with Bhupendra Patel, Deputy CM Nitin Patel, who was perceived as the frontrunner for the post, said he was not “upset by the new selection for the post of the CM”.

Addressing a gathering at his home turf Mehsana on Sunday, teary-eyed Nitin, who also missed the bus to the CMO in 2016, said he owed people who supported him and nobody could “throw him out” as he lived in people’s heart.

Sources say the BJP leadership is clear that those who create “trouble by continuously raising issues that eventually lead to the ouster of a CM would not be encouraged by giving them the posts they have been vying for”.

Citing the example of former Karnataka CM BS Yeddiyurappa, they say both his loyalists and arch rivals were kept out of the new Cabinet.