Bhupendra Patel to take oath as Gujarat CM; PM Modi to attend
Gandhinagar, (PTI): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Bhupendra Patel will take oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for a second straight term in Gandhinagar on Monday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and other dignitaries.
Patel will be administered the oath as the 18th chief minister by Governor Acharya Devvrat at a function to be held at the Helipad Ground near the new Secretariat at 2 PM.
Besides the prime minister and Shah, chief ministers of other BJP-ruled states are set to attend the ceremony, BJP leaders said.
Along with Patel, some new ministers are also expected to take the oath.
In the just-concluded Gujarat Assembly elections, counting for which was held on December 8, the BJP won a seventh straight term by winning record 156 seats in the 182-member House. The Congress won 17 constituencies and AAP 5.
Patel, 60, resigned as chief minister along with his entire cabinet on Friday to pave the way for the formation of a new government following the election results.
He was elected as the leader of the BJP legislative party on Saturday, following which he met the governor and staked the claim to form the next government.
Patel won the Ghatlodia seat with the highest margin of 1.92 lakh votes in the elections.
A low-profile BJP leader and the first from the Kadva Patidar sub-group to become CM, Patel replaced Vijay Rupani in September 2021.
Hectic consultations are going on in BJP for picking ministerial candidates against the backdrop of the historic mandate given the party will have to walk the tightrope of balancing caste and regional representations, sources said.
MLAs Kanu Desai, Raghavji Patel, Rushikesh Patel, Harsh Sanghavi, Shankar Chaudhary, Purnesh Modi, Manisha Vakil, Ramanlal Vora and Raman Patkar are among those expected to be inducted in the ministry, they added.
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PM Modi lauds reduction in tuberculosis incidence in India
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday lauded the reduction in the incidence of tuberculosis in India since 2015, which was twice the global rate of decline and credited it to the expansion of treatment coverage.
India's TB incidence, which refers to new cases emerging each year, reduced by 21 per cent, from 237 per lakh population in 2015 to 187 per lakh population in 2024, according to the World Health Organisation's Global TB Report 2025.
The reduction is almost double the pace of the decline observed globally at 12 per cent, the Health Ministry said.
"India's fight against TB is achieving remarkable momentum. The latest WHO Global tuberculosis report 2025 highlights that India has recorded a commendable reduction in TB incidence since 2015 and it is nearly twice the global rate of decline," Modi said in a post on X.
The Prime Minister said the decline in incidence of TB in India was one of the sharpest drops seen anywhere in the world.
"Equally heartening is the expansion of treatment coverage, the fall in 'missing cases' and the sustained rise in treatment success. I compliment all those who have worked towards achieving this success. We remain committed to ensuring a healthy and fit India," Modi said.
