Gujarat CM reshuffles cabinet; total strength rises to 26; Sanghavi takes oath as Deputy CM
Rivaba Jadeja joins council of ministers
Gandhinagar(PTI): Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday reshuffled his cabinet by inducting 19 MLAs as ministers, taking the total strength of his council of ministers, including himself, to 26, and elevated junior home minister Harsh Sanghavi to the post of Deputy Chief Minister.
Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new ministers as well as those who were elevated to the cabinet rank and given MoS independent charge from ministers of state.
Sanghavi, who represents the Munjara assembly constituency in Surat city, took oath as the deputy CM. Till now, he held the post of Minister of State for Home.
Sanghavi and five other MLAs who were part of the previous Bhupendra Patel-led cabinet, continue to be in the council of ministers. Though all 16 ministers had resigned on Thursday, the resignations of these six ministers were not accepted by the CM.
While three of these six - Kanubhai Patel, Rushikesh Patel and Kunvarji Bavalia- were earlier cabinet ministers, Sanghavi, Praful Pansheriya and Purshottam Solanki were MoS.
Of them, only Sanghavi who has been elevated to the post of deputy CM, and Pansheriya, given MoS with independent charge, took fresh oaths on Friday.
Some of the 19 MLAs included in the council of ministers are Jitu Vaghani, Arjun Modhwadia and Manisha Vakil.
A surprise entry was Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of Indian cricketer Ravindra Jadeja, as a minister of state.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Women's quota bill would have ensured defeat of democracy, Constitution: Aaditya Thackeray
Mumbai (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Saturday said that the passage of the women's quota bill would have ensured a "total defeat of democracy", alleging that the legislation, linked with a delimitation exercise, was a political tool designed to reduce the voice of states.
Thackeray, in a post on X, claimed that the Bill would have amended the Constitution for the political means of the ruling regime to increase seats, reduce the voice of many states and enable the gerrymandering of constituencies to ensure unfair victories.
"The very amendment that would have ensured the total defeat of democracy and the Constitution in India stands rejected by the unity of the Opposition MPs," he wrote.
The legislation should have been called "Delimitation to ensure unfair victory Bill", the former minister said, adding that there was a genuine need to enable 33 per cent reservation for women in the current number of seats.
"Now, it is up to the government to ensure that it is implemented in the 543 seats of the Lok Sabha for the 2029 elections and all elections across India, if that is the real intent of the government," he wrote.
A Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats was defeated on Friday in the Lower House.
While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
According to the Constitution Amendment Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
