Gandhinagar:

Newly elected leader of BJP legislature party in Gujarat Vijay Rupani would take oath as the CM for second consecutive term at Sachivalya ground here on December 26 during which PM Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and many bigwigs of the party and other celebrities would remain present.

A delegation of senior BJP leaders led by state president of the party Jeetu Vaghnai (in which the leader elect- Vijay Rupani was not present as a matter of tradition) met governor O P Kohli at Rajbhavan here this evening and formally put forth the stake for formation of next government in the state.

Vaghani later told newsmen here that Kohli was handed over the copy of the party resolution by which Rupani was elected the leader of the legilature party and Nitin Patel as the deputy leader.

He said that the governor invited Rupani and Patel for oath taking on December 26.

He also said that PM Modi, Shah, union minister, CM/DyCM and other leaders from BJP ruled states and other dignitaries would participate in the oath taking ceremony.

To a query about how many minister would take oath with Rupani, Vaghani said that it was a prerogative of the CM and he would only take a call on it.

The BJP delegation that met Kohli at Rajbhavan soon after his arrival from Bhopal this evening also included among others Nitin Patel, Bhupendra Chudasma, Gandpat Vasava, K C Patel, Bharat Pandya, Shankar Chaudhary, I K Jadeja and R C Faldu.

Meanwhile speculations were on about Vaghani’s own inclusion in the Rupani cabinet this time around. Former Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma is likely to replace Ramanlal Vora (who lost election this time) as the assembly speaker.

DeshGujarat