MUMBAI: The newly-elected Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s council of ministers is dominated by leaders from the Patidar and Other Backward Caste communities. Patel, a Patidar himself, has six ministers from his community. The aim is to pacify this electorally significant community, which has been agitating for reservations.
The Patidar ministers include Hrishikesh Patel, Vinu Mordia, Arvind Raiani, Raghavji Patel, Brijesh Merja, Jitu Waghani, and the chief minister Bhupendra Patel himself. As many as four Patidar ministers are from the Saurashtra region of Gujarat while one each from North Gujarat, South Gujarat, and Central Gujarat. Out of seven Patidar ministers, four are Leva Patel while three Kadwa Patel. Chief minister Bhupendra Patel is Kadva Patel.
Apart from Patidar, the members from the OBC community have also been given equal representation in the council of ministers. There are two Brahmin ministers including Rajendra Trivedi and Kanubhai Desai. Moreover, one minister belongs to the minority Jain community that includes Harsh Sanghvi. Besides, two women Manisha Vakil and Nimisha Suthar have been also inducted into the Bhupendra Patel cabinet. Two Kshatriya community leaders while two from Scheduled caste and four from scheduled tribe given representation in Bhupendra Patel cabinet swearing-in on Thursday.
Apart from caste balance, there is also regional balance in the new cabinet. There are seven ministers each from Saurashtra, central Gujarat and the south Gujarat region and three each from north Gujarat. “Patidar is one of the cash-rich and electorally influencing and politically formidable communities in Gujarat. It will also puncture the Aam Adami Party campaign. Now, the entire narrative has changed after Patel taking rein of Gujarat government,” an analyst said. Earlier in the day, the fishing community protested the non-inclusion of their leaders in the new cabinet. Many from the influential community were dropped due to the no-repeat policy.
Blow to AAP’s bid to woo patidars
The BJP’s decision to include six ministers from the Patidar community in the new cabinet will deal a blow to the AAP’s attempts to woo the community ahead of elections
