BJP first-time MLA Bhupendra Patel will be sworn in as the chief minister of Gujarat on September 13, tomorrow at 2:20 pm. Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat in a tweet today informed that Patel will be sworn in at the Raj Bhavan tomorrow at 2:20 pm in the afternoon.
Patel would be the 17th chief minister to take oath after Vijay Rupani on Saturday tendered his resignation. Notably, Rupani himself recommended Bhupendra Patel's name for the CM post.
Patel, was today elected as the leader of the BJP legislature party after a meeting in state capital Gandhinagar, met the Governor Acharya Devvrat to stake his claim as the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat. Earlier BJP chief CR Patil informed that Patel will take oath as the new chief minister of Gujarat on Monday.
"Gujarat Chief Minister-elect Bhupendra Patel will take oath tomorrow. No one else will take oath along with him as the name of Deputy Chief Minister is not decided yet," said Patil. The state BJP chief said that details about the new cabinet will be finalised later.
Patel is an MLA from the Ghatlodia seat, which was previously held by Anandiben Patel, who is currently serving as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, with an additional charge of Madhya Pradesh. Patel a first-time MLA had won his seat by a margin of 117,000 votes in 2017, the largest margin in that poll defeating Congress candidate Shashikant Patel.
He has previously served as chairman of the Standing Committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and had also chaired the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). Patel has also served as a municipal councilor in Ahmedabad.
With Assembly polls in the state scheduled to take place in 2022, BJP went with Patel, a Patidar face for the Chief Minister. In Gujarat, the Patidars are a dominant caste with a sizeable control over the electoral votes. The community also dominates the political economy with a stronghold over education, realty and cooperative sectors.
Rupani took charge as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on August 7, 2016. He currently represents Gujarat's Rajkot West as MLA. In the 2017 state election, the BJP won 99 of the state's 182 Assembly seats, Congress got 77 seats.
