Bhupendra Patel resigns as Gujarat CM, BJP to elect new leader on Saturday

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and his cabinet tendered their resignations to Governor Acharya Devvrat on Friday to pave the way for the formation of a new government.

The newly-elected lawmakers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will meet on Saturday (December 10) to choose a new leader.

BJP's state chief C.R. Patil in a letter addressed to the Governor has sought his appointment for Saturday . In the letter, he has also informed the Governor that MLAs' meeting will be held on Saturday wherein a new leader of the legislature party will be elected, after which the party will be requesting the Governor to hold the swearing-in ceremony on Monday. Bhupendra Patel is all set to continue as the Chief Minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other dignitaries will be attending the swearing-in ceremony.

In the recently held Assembly elections in two phases, the BJP has got a thumping majority with 156 seats. This will be the seventh consecutive victory for the BJP in the state.

According to party sources there is a possibility of one or two Deputy Chief Ministers in the new cabinet, which can have 12 cabinet ministers, three to four Ministers of State with independent portfolios, and the rest Minister of states.

Senior and junior faces in the race for the cabinet berths are Ramanlal Vora, Raghavji Patel, kunvarji Bavalia, Rishikesh Patel, Shankar Chaudhary, Jitu Vaghani, Jayesh Radadiya, Kiritsinh Rana, Mahendra Padaliya, Jitu Chaudhary, Naresh Patel, Balvantsimh Rajput, Kanubhai Desai, Kesaji Thakor, Purnesh Modi, Harsh Sanghvi, Nimisha Suthar, and Manisha Vakil.

From the juniors and new faces Amit Thaker, Mahesh Kaswala, Alpesh Thakor, Hardik Patel, Darshita Shah and Darshana Vaghela are in the race.

--IANS

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