Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, other ministers take charge

GANDHINAGAR: Bhupendra Patel took charge as the 18th chief minister of Gujarat at the secretariat in Gandhinagar on Tuesday. Along with Patel, 16 members of his council of ministers also took charge in the presence of their family members and a large number of supporters.
Along with Patel, 16 ministers including eight cabinet-rank ministers took charge of their respective departments at Swarnim Sankul-1 and Swarnim Sankul-2, according to an official statement.
Patel took the oath as chief minister for his second consecutive term at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, following the BJP’s landslide victory in the assembly election.
Before taking over as CM on Tuesday, Patel visited the offices of all ministers and congratulated them.
Patel installed idols of Dada-Bhagwan in his office and performed a religious ritual in the presence of family members and supporters, before taking charge as CM. A large number of newly elected MLAs and BJP workers from across the state visited and congratulated him on taking over as CM for a second consecutive term.
A number of IAS and IPS officers along with employees of the secretariat visited Bhupendra Patel and congratulated him.
The cabinet-rank ministers in the government are Kanu Desai, Rushikesh Patel, Raghavji Patel, Balvantsinh Rajput, Kunvarji Bavaliya, Mulu Bera, Kuber Dindor and Bhanu Babariya. Finance minister Kanu Desai, now number two in the government after the CM, preferred to continue in the same office on the first floor of Swarnim Sankul, and refused the larger office on the second floor of the building, which used to be occupied by Rajendra Trivedi, who was the seniormost minister after the CM in the Bhupendra Patel 1.0 government and Nitin Patel in the Vijay Rupani government.
Instead, Rushikesh Patel occupied the chamber on the second floor of Swarnim Sankul, reserved for the seniormost minister after the CM.
The MoS rank ministers with independent charge who took charge included Harsh Sanghvi and Jagdish Vishwakarma. The other six MoS-rank ministers are Parshottam Solanki, Bachu Khabad, Mukesh Patel, Praful Pansheriya, Kunvarji Halpati and Bhikhusinh Parmar.
While the CM completed some work in the evening, most other ministers got acquainted with their respective departments by being briefed by top officers.
Sources said CM Patel has instructed all ministers to remain in Gandhinagar for the next ten days at least, so visitors can meet them and they can get acquainted with their departments.
Patel was administered the oath as the 18th chief minister by governor Acharya Devvrat at a grand ceremony attended by PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, members of the Union Cabinet and chief ministers of BJP-ruled states at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat, four days after the BJP stormed to power with a historic mandate.