GANDHINAGAR: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has retained the key Home department after the portfolios were alloted in the first Cabinet meeting held here tonight.
Rupani kept majority of his past portfolios of General Administration, Home, Planning, Ports and Mines among others.
He will also handle Urban Development, Petroleum, Climate Change, Science and Technology and Information and Broadcasting.
Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel has been alloted Road and Building, Health, Medical Education, Narmada, Kalpsar and Capital Project.
Another important portfolio -- Finance -- was given to Saurabh Patel, who will also handle Energy.
Senior cabinet minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama would handle Education, Law and Justice and Parliamentary and Legislative Affairs departments.
New face R C Faldu has been given the charge of Agriculture, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Transport.
Kaushik Patel has been given Revenue, while Ganpat Vasava was given Tribal Development, Forest, and Tourism.
As a cabinet minister, Vasava would also handle Women and Child Development department.
While Jayesh Radadiya was allotted Food, Civil Supply and Consumer Affairs as well as Cottage Industries, Dilip Thakor has been given Labour and Employment and Disaster Management and Pilgrimage development.
Young cabinet minister Ishwar Parmar, a Dalit, has been given Social Justice and Empowerment as well as OBC Welfare department.
Minister of State (MoS) Pradipsinh Jadeja has retained the Home portfolio.
MoS Parbat Patel has been alloted Irrigation and Water Supply with independent charge, while MoS Parshottam Solanki has retained Fisheries.
MoS Bachu Khabad has been given Rural Development and Animal Husbandry and MoS Jaydrathsinh Parmar was allotted Agriculture. Parmar was also given independent charge of Panchayats and Environment portfolios.
MoS Ishwar Patel has been given Sports and Culture departments, while Vasan Ahir has been made MoS for OBC Welfare department.
Lone woman minister Vibhavariben Patel has been made MoS for Women and Child Development, Primary and Secondary Education as well as for Pilgrimage development.
Tribal leader Raman Patkar has been given charge of Forest and Tribal Welfare department as MoS.
Patidar leader from Surat Kishor Kanani will be the MoS for Health and Medical Education.
The BJP government was sworn-in for the sixth time in Gujarat on December 26.
Though today's meet was supposed to be held at 5:00pm, it got delayed and started at around 9:00 pm as Rupani, Patel, and state BJP president Jitu Vaghani held a four-hour long meeting at the chief minister's residence before arriving at the state secretariat for the cabinet meet.