Cabinet berth for 2 more Congress defectors in Gujarat

GANDHINAGAR: CM Vijay Rupani expanded his cabinet on Saturday as three more leaders were administered the oath of office by

Gujarat

governor O P Kohli. Two of the three who were sworn in as ministers are Congress turncoats. With these new additions, the current Rupani cabinet of 22 ministers has accommodated a total of nine turncoats over the last few years, constituting 40% of the cabinet members.


Jawahar Chavda was sworn in as cabinet rank minister within 24 hours of him quitting the Congress on Friday. This is the second fastest accommodation of a turncoat into the cabinet by the BJP government. In July last year, Kunvarji Bavaliya was made minister within hours of quitting the Congress. Another Congress leader, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, was one of the 14 Congress MLAs who had quit just before the

Rajya Sabha

and the assembly elections in 2017. He joined the BJP in 2017 and was awarded with MoS rank cabinet berth.

The third addition to the state cabinet was veteran BJP MLA Yogesh Patel from Manjalpur in Vadodara. Apart from the two former Congressmen who had crossed over and were sworn into the Rupani cabinet on Saturday, the other Congress turncoats in the cabinet include Jayesh Radadiya and Kuvarji Bavaliya who hold cabinet berths.

Cabinet strength now stands at 22
While in the MoS rank there are former Congressmen Prabat Patel, Bachubhai Khabad, Jaydrathsinh Parmar. Ishwarsinh Patel and also Raman Patkar who belonged to the Janta Morcha, a party which does not exist today.

The strength of the cabinet now stands at 22 with the addition of three more ministers. The portfolios of the three new entrants are likely to be announced later. Senior ruling party leaders claim that there is still scope for accommodating more Congress MLAs who may wish to switch over and become ministers in the government.

Deputy chief minister Nitin Patel said, “There is still scope of accommodating more ministers in the state cabinet. The party will decide according to need.’’ Speaking to the media, the DyCM said – “Today, three more ministers have been added to the cabinet of CM Vijay Rupani. Jawahar Chavda has taken oath as the cabinet minister while Dharmendrasinh Jadeja from Jamnagar and Yogeshbhai Patel from Vadodara have taken oath as the MOS rank ministers.”

Explaining the rationale behind the expansion, Patel said, “After taking into account the regional and other considerations, the party decided to take these leaders into the cabinet.

Portfolio allocation to these new ministers will be done after consultation with the party high command soon, and this could be before the next cabinet meeting.’’ With the inclusion of Jawahar Chavda and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (Hakubha), close to 40% of the ministers in the state cabinet now have their origins in either the Congress or other parties.

Other ministers who have their origins in the Congress or other parties include Kunvarji Bavaliya, Jayesh Radadiya, Parbat Patel, Bachubhai Khabad, Jaydratsinh Parmar, Raman Patkar and Ishwarsinh Patel.

Patkar and Ishwarsinh Parmar have their origins in the Janta Morcha.



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