Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Monday allocated portfolios to his Ministers, keeping important departments like General Administration, Home, Industries, Mines and Minerals, Climate Change, Planning, Ports and all policy matters to himself.
Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel has got heavy portfolios like Finance, Petrochemicals, Urban Development and Urban Housing, Capital Projects, Road and Buildings and Narmada and Kalpasar.
Pradipsinh Jadeja, a confidant of BJP president Amit Shah, has been made Minister of State (MoS) for Home and Energy, besides Prohibition, Police Housing, Border Security and Law and Justice, Pilgrimage and NGO and NRG Affairs with independent charge. Mr. Jadeja is a legislator from Vatva Assembly segment in Ahmedabad city. These portfolios were handled by Mr. Shah when he was a junior minister under the then Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat from January 2003 to July 2010.
A leading Kshatriya leader Bhupendrasinh Chudasama has been given Revenue and Education departments as Cabinet Minister while Porbandar MLA and OBC leader Babubhai Bokhiria will be Minister for Water Resources, Animal Husbandry, Salt Industry and Civil Aviation.
The new inductee as a Cabinet Minister Chimanbhai Saparia has been given Energy and Agriculture departments. He is a Kadva Patel from Jamjodhpur Assembly segment in Saurashtra.
Tribal leader and Assembly speaker in the previous administration, Ganpat Vasava has been made Minister for Tourism and Tribal Development while Dalit leader and deputy speaker in the previous administration Atmaram Parmar has been allocated departments of Social Justice and Empowerment and also Women and Child Development.
Shankar Chaudhary, another confidant of Mr. Amit Shah, has been made new Health Minister (independent charge) and also put in charge of the Environment department. Mr. Chaudhary is a leading figure in the cooperative sector and is chairman of Banas dairy in Banaskantha district and also vice-chairman of the Gujarat State Cooperative Bank Ltd.
First cabinet meeting
Meanwhile, Mr. Rupani held his first Cabinet meeting and reviewed the monsoon and rainfall situation in the State. So far, the rain deficit has been almost 50 per cent but several parts of the State have been receiving heavy rainfall.
