Gandhinagar: The Gujarat BJP government on Friday expanded its council of ministers to 25, elevating state Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi as Deputy Chief Minister. The reshuffle also saw the induction of 19 new faces, including Rivaba Jadeja, wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, alongside a mix of returning and first-time ministers. Sanghavi, who won the 2022 Assembly elections by a margin of over one lakh votes, took oath at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Governor Acharya Devvrat.

The new cabinet includes six returning ministers—Rishikesh Patel, Kanubhai Desai, Kunwarji Bavaliya, Praful Panseria, Parshottam Solanki, and Sanghavi himself. Four ministers retaining their previous portfolios—Rishikesh Patel, Kanubhai Desai, Kunwarji Bavaliya, and Parshottam Solanki—did not participate in the oath-taking, as their positions remained unchanged. The reshuffle brought in leaders such as Trikam Chhang, Swaroopji Thakor, Praveen Mali, PC Baranda, Darshana Vaghela, Kantilal Amritiya, Arjun Modhwadia, and several others.

The cabinet’s caste composition comprises eight OBC ministers, six Patidars, four tribals, three Scheduled Castes, two Kshatriyas, and one each from Brahmin and Jain (Laghumati) communities. This marks the largest cabinet overhaul in Gujarat since September 2021, when former Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and his entire ministry resigned. Gujarat, with a 182-member Assembly, can have a maximum of 27 ministers, and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, now serving his second term, recently completed five years in office.