Ahmedabad: Narendra Modi, the architect of BJP's (Bharatiya Janata Party) landslide
victory in Gujarat Assembly polls, was on December 22 sworn-in as Chief Minister of
the state for the second time.
Modi was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Sunder Singh
Bhandari at a grand ceremony in the presence of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee,
Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani and thousands of party workers and sympathisers.
Besides a number of Union Ministers, Chief Ministers J Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu),
Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand) and Om Prakash Chautala (Haryana) attended the
swearing-in.
BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu, supercop K P S Gill, who was security adviser to Modi for
some time post-Godhra, and Bollywood stars Juhi Chawla and Shekhar Suman as also
Vinod Khanna, the Union Minister, were also present.
Nine Cabinet Ministers were sworn-in along with Modi at the Sardar Patel stadium.
The Cabinet Ministers are Vajubhai Vala, Ashok Bhatt, Kaushik Patel, Anandiben Patel,
Narrottam Patel, Ramanlal Vora, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, I K Jadeja and Mangubhai
Patel.
Bavku Ughad, Dilip Thakore, Anil Patel, Prabhatsinh Chauhan, Amit Shah and Saurabh
Patel took oath as Ministers of State.
There are four new faces in the ministry -- Amit Shah, MLA from Sarkhej,
Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd chairman Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Anil
Patel repesenting Mehsana and Saurabh Patel (Botand).
Modi has retained seven members of his previous ministry.
Finance Minister in Keshubhai Patel government Vaju Vala, who vacated his
Rajkot-II seat to enable Modi to enter the state Assembly last time, and
then Co-operation Minister Ramanlal Vora were included in the
ministry.
Former Cabinet Ministers Ashok Bhatt, Narottam Patel, Anandiben Patel and
Kaushik Patel find place in the new ministry.
Ministers of State in previous Modi ministry, Bavku Ughad, Prabhatsinh
Chauhan and Dilip Thakore were retained.
Mangubhai Patel, who held independent charge of tribal welfare in the
previous ministry, was elevated to the Cabinet rank.
Immediately after the ceremony was over, Modi sought blessings of the Prime
Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and Human Resorces Development Minister
Murli Manohar Joshi by touching their feet. The newly-sworn in Ministers
followed suit.
Jayalalithaa felicitated Modi and presented him a shawl and a bouquet.
PTI
