Gujarat cabinet reshuffle brings in 26 ministers including Ravindra Jadeja's wife Rivaba

THE BJP-led government in Gujarat on Friday announced a new cabinet with 26 ministers, including Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja.

Friday's announcement, the first major reshuffle under Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, comes a day after the entire Gujarat cabinet, except for the CM, submitted its resignation.

According to a Hindustan Times report, ministers who were part of the earlier cabinet were asked to resign by the party to give Patel and the BJP leadership a free hand for a 'strategic reset' ahead of the upcoming local body polls and the state Assembly elections, to be held in 2027.

However, ahead of Friday's announcement, Indian Express reported that the resignations of some of the 16 ministers of the previous cabinet had not been accepted, suggesting that some of them could make a return.

Indeed, they did: Rushikesh Patel, Praful Panseriya, Kanubhai Desai, and Kunwarji Bavaliya from the previous cabinet was named in Friday's list. Parshottam Solanki from the previous cabinet was also retained.

Patel had earlier held the Higher Education and Health portfolios, while Panseriya was the Minister of State (MoS) for Education. Desai and Solanki, meanwhile, held the Energy and Fisheries and Animal Husbandry portfolios respectively, while Bavaliya was the Water Resources Minister.

Friday's reshuffle is the biggest in Gujarat since 11 September 2021, when the late Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and his entire ministry stepped down, reportedly at the direction of the BJP top brass.

With the full list of ministers in the new cabinet announced, all that is left is the oath-taking ceremony.

News agency PTI reported that CM Patel, on Friday morning, approached state Governor Acharya Devvrat for permission to hold the ceremony at Mahatma Mandir Convention Centre in Gandhinagar around 11.45 am, but the ceremony was delayed, with attendees still arriving post-noon.

The swearing-in ceremony will be held on Friday itself, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP National President J P Nadda expected to be in attendance.