All 16 ministers of Gujarat resign en masse; CM to form new cabinet

AHMEDABAD: All ministers except Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel resigned ahead of a cabinet reshuffle. The Chief Minister accepted their resignations, as per national media reports. Governor Acharya Devvrat is expected to meet the Chief Minister this evening to form a new cabinet.

Analysts predict this to be a major overhaul in the state politics scenario of Gujarat, which has remained loyal to BJP over two decades. Based on the reports coming out, only Harsh Sanghvi and Hrishikesh Patel are likely to be retained in the new cabinet. A senior BJP leader put forward the possibility of inducting ten new ministers in the new cabinet, and half of the existing ministers being transferred as part of the reshuffle. The current Gujarat cabinet has 17 ministers, including the Chief Minister. Eight of them have cabinet rank. There are also about eight ‘ministers of state’.