Gandhinagar: Bhupendra Patel, a ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Ghatlodia seat in Ahmedabad took oath as 17th Chief Minister of Gujarat today in a function attended by around 500 persons at Raj Bhavan in capital Gandhinagar. Swearing in took place at 2 pm. Oath was conducted by Governor Devvrat Acharya. 59-year old Patel is first term MLA. He was elected as leader of legislative group of party yesterday. Among those who attended swearing in function were union Home affairs minister Amit Shah, Chief Ministers of BJP ruled Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya, Parshottam Rupala, Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Joshi, outgoing Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and outgoing Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel among others.
Patel's first priority will be formation of cabinet in coordination with State party organization which is headed by heavyweight CR Patil. It will need to be seen how as a first-term MLA turn Chief Minister, he will tackle the seasoned ministers and powerful bureaucrats. Patel is expected to visit capital New Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendrabhai Modi in near future. A two days long State assembly monsoon session in the last week of this month will be the first in which fist term MLA Bhupendra Patel will sit on Chief Minister's chair.
