Gujarat CM rejigs ministry, drops 9, elevates MoS home as deputy CM
This story was originally published at 22:56 IST on 17 October 2025
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AHMEDABAD – Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel Friday reshuffled his ministry, inducting nine new ministers and dropping nine. One of the key ministers to be dropped was Balvansinh Rajput, who held the portfolio of the industry department.
The chief minister also increased the size of his government to 27 from 16 ministers earlier. There are now 10 Cabinet ministers, three ministers of state with independent charge, and the remaining ministers of state, in the Gujarat government.
The biggest surprise in the reshuffle was Harsh Sanghavi, a 39-year-old legislator from Majura constituency in Surat, who held the portfolio of minister of state with independent charge for home affairs. He has now been made the deputy chief minister and will retain his portfolio of home affairs, police and micro, small and medium enterprises.
The new ministers were sworn in Friday, a day after all 16 ministers in the state, except Chief Minister Patel, had handed over their resignations, paving the way for the formation of a new government.
The 74-year-old Kanu Desai will continue as the minister of finance. He has also been given the charge of urban development. His earlier portfolio of energy and petrochemicals will now be handled by Rushikesh Patel, the legislator of Visnagar in North Gujarat--once a hub of Patel agitation that shook the state politically in the past. The chief minister has retained industry, ports, revenue, roads and buildings, mines and minerals.
Other than Sanghavi, the people who took oath as the Cabinet ministers include Jitu Vaghani, former state BJP president and legislator from Bhavnagar, prominent Congress turncoat Arjun Modhvadia, legislator from Porbandar, Naresh Patel, Pradhyman Vaja and Raman Solanki.
The ministers of state with independent charge include some old hands from the Vijay Rupani government, like Ishwarsinh Patel. Minister for State for Education Praful Panseria was been made a minister of state with independent charge. He, too, hails from a constituency in Surat district and would handle health, family welfare and medical education.
Among the ministers of state who were sworn in Friday include Morbi legislator Kantilal Amrutiya and Revaba Jadeja, wife of international cricketer Ravindra jadeja.
The BJP government in the state appears to have carefully tried to balance caste and regional aspirations as most of the plum posts in the ministry and party have gone to legislators either from North or South Gujarat, and Saurashtra left unrepresented. End
Reported by Sunil Raghu
Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury
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