Bhupendra Patel meets Gujarat governor, stakes claim to form government

GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat caretaker chief minister Bhupendra Patel on Saturday met Governor Acharya Devvrat and staked a claim to form a government after he was elected as the leader of the BJP legislative party, two days after the party won a record mandate in the state elections.

Patel reached Raj Bhavan soon after he was elected as the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislative party at a meeting earlier in the day.

Gujarat BJP chief CR Paatil accompanied Patel to Raj Bhavan.

Patel will be sworn in as the 18th chief minister at a function at the Helipad ground near the new secretariat in Gandhinagar on December 12.

He had replaced Vijay Rupani as the chief minister of Gujarat in September 2021 ahead of the Assembly elections.

MLAs Kanu Desai, Ganpat Vasava, Harsh Sanghavi, Jitu Vaghani and Purnesh Modi among others were also present when Patel handed over the letter staking the claim to form a government to the governor.

Patel, 60, resigned as the chief minister along with his entire cabinet on Friday to pave the way for the formation of a new government in the state after the BJP registered a record victory in the just-concluded Assembly elections by clinching 156 seats in the 182-member House.