Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel expected to have a young cabinet; swearing-in on Thursday

The swearing-in of new cabinet of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will take place on Thursday at Raj Bhawan in Gandhinagar.

It is learnt that more than 20 leaders would be sworn in as ministers.

Sources said the majority of ministers in the cabinet headed by previous Chief Minister Vijay Rupani are likely to be dropped.

They said the party has decided to give a chance to new and young faces to work with the newly sworn-in Chief Minister.

Patel was sworn in on Monday as many ministers eagerly awaited the announcement of the date of the new cabinet and were also anxious about their chances of being retained.

"It is likely to be a comparatively young cabinet with fresh faces. Patidars are likely to dominate the cabinet," a source said.

The exercise was supposed to take place a day earlier but got delayed, a senior leader said without elaborating the reasons.

Senior leaders in the party are reaching out to those not likely to be retained as ministers.

"There is a massive exercise going on to see that leaders who won't be accommodated in the cabinet will not feel left out," the source added.

The sources said those not being retained have been assured of tickets in the next assembly elections.

Bhupendra Patel, MLA from Ghatlodia, took oath as the 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat on Monday. He belongs to Patidar community .

The announcement of 59-year-old BJP leader's name as the Chief Minister-elect at a legislative party meeting of the BJP on Sunday came as a surprise for many as the low-profile MLA was not seen to be among the top contenders for the post.

The party is counting on Patel to shore up the party's fortunes ahead of the assembly elections towards the end of next year. In the 2017 state election, the BJP won 99 of the state's 182 Assembly seats and Congress got 77 seats.

( With inputs from ANI )