Bhupendra Patel will take oath as the Gujarat's chief minister for a second consecutive term, after newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs selected him as the legislative party's leader during a meeting here on Saturday. In the meeting held at the party's state headquarters, Kamalam, Patel's name was unanimously proclaimed as the leader of the legislative party.
BJP said in a statement, "The newly-elected MLAs met today at Kamalam, where the proposal to name Bhupendra Patel as the chief minister of Gujarat was unanimously approved.”
Following the BJP's overwhelming victory in the recently concluded state Assembly elections, Patel, 60, resigned from his position as chief minister on Friday along with the rest of his Cabinet. This opened the door for the formation of a new government in the state.
Senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, B S Yediyurappa, and Arjun Munda attended the meeting.
Patel received 1.92 lakh votes in this year's election to win a second consecutive term from the Ghatlodia Assembly seat in Ahmedabad district. He took over as chief minister from Vijay Rupani in September of last year.
The BJP won 156 seats in Gujarat's 182-member House on Thursday, a significant increase from its previous tally of 99 seats in 2017.
The party has already announced that the new government's inauguration will take place on December 12, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in attendance, as well as chief ministers from BJP-ruled states.
Bhupendra Patel will remain the chief minister, according to Gujarat BJP leader C R Paatil, and the new government's swearing-in ceremony will take place on Monday at Gandhinagar's Helipad Ground.