All 16 ministers in the Gujarat government, excluding Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, tendered their resignations on Thursday evening, clearing the path for the formation of a new cabinet. The CM promptly accepted the submissions, ahead of a comprehensive cabinet reshuffle scheduled for Friday.
This development marks the first significant reshuffle in Patel’s administration since he assumed office in September 2021, and comes amid the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) strategic preparations for upcoming local body elections. The resignations followed a high-level cabinet meeting chaired by Patel at the state secretariat in Gandhinagar, where Gujarat BJP president Jagadish Vishwakarma directed the ministers to step down to enable a full restructuring.
Gujarat’s constitutional limit allows for up to 27 ministers, including the Chief Minister, leaving ample room for expansion from the current lean 17-member setup.
The new council of ministers will take oath at 11:30 a.m. on October 17 at the iconic Mahatma Mandir convention center in Gandhinagar. Governor Acharya Devvrat will administer the oaths, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda in attendance as chief guests. Nadda arrived in Gujarat earlier Thursday for consultations with Patel, former state BJP chief C.R. Patil, and other senior leaders.
According to reports, young and new leaders are expected to replace old faces in the cabinet. Meanwhile, preparations are in full swing for Friday’s swearing-in ceremony. The names of the new ministers could be announced late Thursday night or Friday morning. The leaders dropped from the ministry might be assigned important responsibilities within the party’s state organisation.
Notably, BJP recently appointed Jagdish Vishwakarma as the new state president of Gujarat. Under the “one person, one post” principle, Vishwakarma was to resign from his position as Minister of the State Cooperative Department.
