Rangoon born Vijay Rupani sworn in as Gujarat Chief Minister

Ahemdabad: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vijay Rupani on Sunday took oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

He was administered oath by Governor O P Kohli at the Bharati Bhawain Convention Centre in Gandhinagar.

The swearing in ceremony of Rupani was attended by BJP top brass which included Amit Shah, Arun Jaitley and L K Advani.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi extends wishes:

Congrats to @vijayrupanibjp, Nitinbhai Patel & others sworn-in as they begin their innings to continue the development journey of Gujarat.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 7, 2016

I applaud the dedicated service of @anandibenpatel, who has been working tirelessly for the people of Gujarat for many years.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 7, 2016

BJP chief amit Shah also wishes :

I congratulate Sh @vijayrupanibjp & Sh Nitin Patel ji for taking over as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat respectively.

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) August 5, 2016

Other ministers who took the oath

Minister of State:

Jasabhai Barad, Purushottam Solani and Jayantibhai Kavadia, Shankar Chaidhary and Pradipsinh Jadeja, Chimanbhai Saparia, Atmaram Parmar, Dilip Thakor, Jayesh Radadia and Babubhai Bokhiria

Cabinet Ministers:

Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Ganpat Vasava.

About Rupani:

Coming from a Jain family Rupani, is a dedicated Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) member and has a strong influence in the Saurashtra region. It may be mentioned that there are 11 district in the Saurashtra region and is considered the most significant part of Gujarat.

• Rupani was born in Rangoon (now Yangon in Mayanmar).
• He grew up in Rajkot and joined the RSS.
• He is a law graduate.
• Rupani headed ‘Khusbu Gujarat Ki’ campaign to promote state tourism.
• Vijay was also a Rajya Sabha member between 2006-2012.
• He is considered close to BJP president Amit Shah.
• Vijay Rupani had also participated in the Jayprakash Narayan movement and was jailed for about a year.
• He resigned from the post of Gujarat BJP chief following his elevation.

Earlier, in the day, Rupani took blessings from Swami Bramhvir Ji and posted the picture on his twitter handle.

Spiritual leaders have special importance in Indian life & value system. Had blessing from Swami Brahmvihari ji pic.twitter.com/tYFj0dJTaM

— Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) August 7, 2016

Nitin Patel takes oath as Deputy Chief Minister:

• The 60-year-old Nitin Patel has been Minister since 1995 except in 2002-2007 when he lost the Assembly polls after the Gujarat riots.
• Earlier, there was a lot of buzz in the media that the party may select him for the next Chief Minister of State.

The announcement to make Rupani the successor of Anandiben Patel was made on August 5 last by party Chief Amit Shah.

• It may be mentioned that Anandiben Patel tendered her resignation from the post of Chief Minister few days ago.
• She cited 'age' as the reason behind her resignation.
• Anandiben will turn 75 in the coming November.
• She posted her resignation statement on her facebook wall post.

It may be mentioned that Gujarat in the recent past has witnessed agitations by the Patidar community and the Dalits were also up in arms against the government after the Una incident when four youth were allegedly thrashed by cow vigilante last week.