Vijay Rupani takes oath as Gujarat chief minister, Nitin Patel his deputy

Ahmedabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Rupani took oath as the chief minister of Gujarat for the second consecutive term on Tuesday.

The new government led by Rupani took the oath of office and secrecy at a grand ceremony in Gandhinagar in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, and a galaxy of senior BJP leaders and chief ministers of NDA-ruled states.

JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was also present at the oath taking ceremony of the new government in Gujarat.

Along with Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel, several others were also sworn-in by Governor OP Kohli.

Saurabh Patel, Ganpatsinh Vestabhai Vasava, Jayeshbhai Vitthalbhai Radadiya, RC Faldu, Bhupindrasinh Chudasama, Kaushik Patel, Dilipkumar Viraji Thakor, Ishwarbhai Ramanbhai Parmar, Pradipsinh Jadeja also took oath as ministers in Gujarat government.

The BJP won the Gujarat Assembly elections retaining the state for the sixth consecutive time.

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.

Rupani and Patel were elected as the leader and deputy leader, respectively, of the BJP legislature party at its meeting on December 22.

With inputs from PTI.