BJP`s show of strength in Gujarat as Vijay Rupani takes oath as Chief Minister

GANDHINAGAR: Vijay Rupani was on Tuesday sworn-in as the Gujarat Chief Minister at a grand ceremony here in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

Besides Rupani, Nitin Bhai Patel took the oath of office and secrecy as Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister. Eighteen other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs took oath as ministers.

The new government led by Rupani took the oath of office and secrecy at a grand ceremony in Gandhinagar. The oath of secrecy was administered by Governor OP Kohli.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi and BJP patriarch LK Advani attended the event.

Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Ram Vilas Paswan, Dr Harsh Wardhan and Ananth Kumar were seen gracing the swearing-in ceremony.

Chief ministers of various BJP-ruled states attended the ceremony. Yogi Adityanath, Vasundhara Raje, Raman Singh, Sarbananda Sonawal, Raghubar Das, Devendra Fadnavis, Manohar Parrikar and Manohar Lal Khattar were in attendance.

Keshubhai Patel, Shankersinh Vaghela and Anandiben Patel were also seen sharing the dais with the host of BJP leaders.

Before the swearing-in ceremony, Rupani, sporting an orange-coloured jacket, and Patel greeted the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states who came to attend the ceremony.

The BJP retained power in Gujarat for the sixth consecutive term by winning the recently-held Assembly polls.

With 99 MLAs, the BJP has a simple majority in the 182- member Assembly, 16 less than its 2012 tally of 115.

Opposition Congress, which had won 61 seats in 2012, managed to increase its tally to 77. The strength of the Congress and its allies in the new House is 80.