Bhupendra Patel to be sworn in as Gujarat Chief Minister on December 12

Bhupendra Patel will be sworn in as the 18th Chief Minister at a function in Gandhinagar on December 12

BJP legislative party leader Bhupendra Patel meets Governor Acharya Devvrat to stake claim for the formation of government, at Raj Bhavan, in Gandhinagar, on December 10, 2022. | Photo Credit: PTI

Bhupendra Patel will continue as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for a second straight term with the newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs electing him as the leader of the legislative party during a meeting in Gandhinagar on December 10, 2022. 

He will be sworn in as the Chief Minister on December 12 in the State capital. 

On Sunday, Mr Patel’s name was declared as the leader of the legislative party unanimously at the meeting held at the party’s state headquarters. 

“The newly-elected MLAs met where the proposal to name Bhupendra Patel as the Chief Minister of Gujarat was unanimously approved,” the BJP said in a statement.

His name was proposed by senior legislator and Finance Minister in the previous government, Kanubhai Desai and was supported by the three other senior legislators. 

The meeting was held in the presence of the party observers Rajnath Singh, Arjun Munda and B.Y. Yeddyurappa to elect the leader of the party legislators. 

After the meeting, he and the state party chief CR Paatil along with other senior leaders called on the state Governor Acharya Devrat to inform about Mr Patel’s election as the legislative party leader. 

The Governor has invited him for the swearing in function on December 12. 

In the evening, both Mr Patel and Paatil flew to the national capital Delhi to finalise the names of the ministers in a meeting with PM Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah. 

On Friday, Mr Patel, 60, had resigned as the Chief Minister along with his entire cabinet to pave the way for formation of a new government in the state after the BJP registered a landslide victory in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

Mr Patel won a second term as MLA from the Ghatlodia Assembly seat in Ahmedabad district by 1.92 lakh votes in this year’s election. 

In September last year, he had replaced Vijay Rupani as the chief minister.

The BJP registered a historic victory in Gujarat by clinching 156 seats in the 182-member House on Thursday, much higher than its tally of 99 seats in 2017.