Days after Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani's surprise resignation, the political upheaval in the western state continues. First time MLA Bhupendra Patel has since taken oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat even as the remainder of the Cabinet is slated to join today. But with indications that many top leaders will be dropped, there are now reports of dissent within the ranks.
With the new members scheduled to be sworn in at 1:30 pm, Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi submitted his resignation. He is vacating the Office of the Speaker of Gujarat Legislative Assembly, effective from today. According to earlier reports, top officials including Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama may be dropped from their posts.
As per an India Today report, 21 MLAs have reportedly received a call inviting them to the oath taking ceremony. This includes Nareshbhai Patel, Harsh Sanghvi, Kiritsinh Jitubha Rana, Brijesh Merja, Arvind Raiyani, Rishikesh Patel, Mukesh Patel, Kuberbhai Dindor, Jitu Choudhary, Manisha Vakil, Jitu Vaghani, Mohanbhai Dodia, Gajendrasinh Parmar, Vinubhai Moradiya, Deva Malam, Jagdish Panchal, Kanubhai Desai, Pradip Parmar, Kirti Singh Jhala, Raghavji Patel, RC Makwana.
The article also quoted sources to suggest that a total of 27 MLAs will take oath as cabinet members on Thursday. The tentative list includes many new faces, including Kiritsinh Rana, Shashikant Pandya, Atmaram Parmar, Govind Patel, Rushikesh Patel, Ketan Inamdar, and Arvind Rayani.
Gujarat BJP in-charge Bhupender Yadav has reportedly been holding marathon meetings in Gandhinagar over the last few days to finalise the list.
Further details awaited.
