The sudden resignation of the entire Cabinet, including Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, and the appointment of Bhupendra Patel, a novice, as Chief Minister, has generated political heat in the Gujarat unit of the BJP. There is a lot and dissatisfaction with Cabinet formation, with all current and past ministers being ousted and new faces being given ministerial posts. The swearing in ceremony of the new ministers was scheduled to take place at 4.20 pm on Wednesday, now it has been postponed to 1.30 pm on Thursday, when the ceremony will take place at the Raj Bhavan. Sources say that preparation of the list of ministers may be the reason behind the postponement of the swearing-in ceremony. At present, senior leaders who were part of the earlier Cabinet are pushing for their own candidates.
Following Rupani’s resignation, the party started squabbling over the appointment of Bhupendra Patel, a first-time MLA, as Chief Minister, by side-lining senior Patidar MLAs and ministers, including the Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel.
According to BJP insiders, 90% of the people in the Vijay Rupani Cabinet are likely to be dropped. In order to prevent anti-incumbency against the old faces, an exercise is underway to make new faces ministers. Ministers including Bachu Khabad Vibhavariben Dave, Kumar Kanani and Raman Patkar, were instructed to vacate the minister’s residence.
There is speculation if all the ministers will be new. Some senior MLAs are likely to be accommodated. Caste and region-wise equations are being taken into account. The Cabinet may have a total of 27 members, instead of 22 or 25; from the Rupani Cabinet, Dilip Thakor, Ganpat Vasava and Jayesh Radadia are likely to be repeated.
Within hours of taking oath, Bhupendrabhai left Gandhinagar to assess the flood situation in Saurashtra. In his absence, the list of ministers has been undergoing changes at the party headquarters, Kamalam and at state unit chief C.R. Patil’s bungalow. There is faction fight as well, between two groups that are followers of two important leaders.
A series of meetings at C.R. Patil’s bungalow on the formation of the new government began on Wednesday morning. Disgruntled ministers and senior MLAs were also making representations to top party leaders including to those in Delhi. Ex ministers also gathered at Vijay Rupani’s bungalow and conveyed their displeasure to the party leadership.
In the new cabinet, former home minister Pradipsinh Jadeja may be given the status of a Cabinet-level minister, but will be given another portfolio. Ahmedabad’s Amraiwadi MLA, Jagdish Patel is likely to be made home minister; Rajkot MLA Govindbhai Patel may be given the education portfolio, replacing Bhupendrasinh Chudasama. Two women may also be included in Bhupendra Patel’s new cabinet. Among the new ministers, MLAs below the age of 60 are most likely to be given ministerial posts.
Probable ministers of the new government are: Nimaben Acharya-Bhuj; Jagdish Patel, Amraiwadi; Shashikant Pandya; Deesa; Rishikesh Patel, Visnagar; Gajendrasinh Parmar, Prantij; Govind Patel, Rajkot; R.C. Makwana, Mahuva; Jitu Vaghani, Bhavnagar; Pankaj Desai, Nadiad; Kuber Dindor, Santrampur; Ketan Inamdar, Savli; Manisha Vakil, Vadodara; Dushyant Patel, Bharuch; Sangeeta Patil, Surat; Mohan Dhodia, Mahuva; Naresh Patel, Ganadevi; Kanubhai Desai, Pardi; Dr Ashaben Patel, Unjha; Harsh Sanghvi, Surat.
