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Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani expanded his cabinet on 9 March by inducting three members.
BJP MLA from Manjalpur of Vadodara district Yogesh Patel and Jamnagar West MLA Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, who had crossed over from Congress, were the other two members inducted into the cabinet.
Gujarat Governor OP Kohli administered the oath of office to them. After the swearing-in ceremony, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel told reporters outside the Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar:
The function was held in the presence of select few, including chief minister, few ministers and some top officials inside the Raj Bhavan without any prior announcement.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Sunday allocated portfolios to new inductees in his cabinet, including Congress turncoat Jawahar Chavda who will head Tourism and Fisheries departments.
The chief minister has allocated Tourism and Fisheries department to Chavda, stated an official release issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO). Until now, Forest and Environment Minister Ganpat Vasva was holding the charge of Tourism ministry while Fisheries department was handled by minister Purshottam Solanki, who has been unwell.
The chief minister had last expanded his cabinet in July 2018 and inducted veteran leader Kunvarji Bavaliya, on the same day of him quitting the Congress.
Chavda is a four-time MLA from Manavadar constituency and a prominent leader of OBC Ahir community. He had resigned as MLA as well as the Congress party and joined the BJP on Friday, 8 March.
A seven-time MLA from Manjalpur, Yogesh Patel had earlier expressed dissatisfaction against the BJP government over several issues, including lack of representation from the Vadodara region, in the Rupani cabinet.
After quitting Congress ahead of the 2017 assembly polls, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and contested from Jamnagar West constituency on a BJP ticket and won.
The BJP does not trust its own leaders and was poaching those from the Congress, said the opposition party's state unit chief Amit Chavda . He was reacting to Chavda being inducted into the Vijay Rupani cabinet on Saturday, 9 March, a day after the former quit the Congress as well as the Legislative Assembly and joined the ruling BJP.
Chavda added that the people of Gujarat would give a befitting reply to this "insult" of its "mandate". He claimed such movement by some leaders to the ruling party would not demoralise Congress workers who will continue to fight for the people.
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