AHMEDABAD, Dec 25:The new BJP Government in Gujarat, led by Vijay Rupani and his Deputy Nitin Patel, will be sworn-in at a grand function in Gandhinagar tomorrow.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah, Chief Ministers of all BJP-ruled States and those governed by NDA allies are expected at the ceremony, to be held at an open ground near the State Secretariat, Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani said.
Several Union Ministers and other senior leaders of the party have also been invited for the swearing-in ceremony.
“We have also invited saints and religious leaders of various faiths to give us their blessings,” Vaghani said.
On December 23, the State BJP leaders met Governor O P Kohli and staked claim to form the Government.
The Governor accepted the BJP’s claim and asked the party to form the next Government.
Rupani and Patel were elected respectively as the Leader and the Deputy Leader of the BJP Legislature party on December 22, in presence of Central Observers – Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the party’s general secretary Saroj Pandey.
The BJP secured a simple majority by winning 99 seats in the 182-member Assembly in the recently-held elections.
The party’s tally this time came down by 16 seats. It had secured 115 seats in 2012.
This is the sixth consecutive time that the BJP has won the elections in Gujarat.
The opposition Congress, which won 61 seats in 2012, managed to increase its tally to 77 this time. With its allies, the Congress’ strength in the Assembly is up at 80 seats.
Meanwhile, Arun Jaitley, Smriti Irani and Dr Jitendra Singh are among the prominent Union Ministers of the Modi Government who are expected to attend the swearing – in ceremony of Gujarat Chief Minister -designate Vijay Rupani and his team of Ministers at Gandhi Nagar, Ahmedabad tomorrow.
A pesonally signed invitation by Vijay Rupani was delivered today to each of these Ministers from the Chief Minister’s Office, Ahmedabad.
Pertinent to mention that while Arun Jaitley was BJP Election Prabhari (In-Charge) for Gujarat and is also a member of Rajya Sabha from Gujarat, Dr Jitendra Singh was BJP Election Sah-Prabhari (Co-Incharge). Smriti Irani also happens to be a Member of Rajya Sabha from Gujarat.
The oath ceremony is scheduled to take place at Gandhinagar at 11 am tomorrow morning and most of the Ministers are likely to leave from Delhi for Ahmedabad early morning.
Meanwhile, large scale preparations are under way, both in the Government circles as well as the BJP party level to put up a grand show of oath ceremony of the BJP Government which is going to set a record of sorts by being sworn-in consecutively for the sixth time in the last 21 years.(PTI)
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