Who is Bhanuben Babariya? The only woman minister in Gujarat cabinet 2.0
Bhanuben Babariya defeated the AAP's Vashrambhai Sagathiya by a margin of 48,494 votes to win the Rajkot Rural seat in the recently concluded Gujarat assembly election.
As many as 17 ministers took oath under the BJP-headed Gujarat government on Monday, including Bhupendra Patel, who sworn in to begin his second innings as the chief minister. Bhanuben Manoharbhai Babariya is the only woman to feature among the names of cabinet as well as state ministers.
Live updates of Gujarat ministers' oath taking ceremony
Elected as an MLA from Rajkot Rural in the recently concluded Gujarat assembly election, Babariya defeated her close rivals from Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Babariya won the assembly constituency by securing a whooping 119,695 (52.54 per cent) votes while the AAP's Vashrambhai Sagathiya came second with 71,201 (31.25 per cent). The grand old party's Bathwar Sureshkumar Karshanbhai was a distant third with 29,175 votes (12.81 per cent).
Who is Bhanuben Babariya?
Following the announcement of Gujarat assembly election results 2022, Babariya became an MLA for the third time. She is currently a councillor of Rajkot Municipal Corporation. In the past, she had won the assembly poll from Rajkot Rural twice - in 2007 and 2012. In 2012, she defeated Congress candidate Sagathiya Lakhabhai Jethabhai.
Who are the other ministers?
The oath taking ceremony was a star-studded event with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his Maharashtra and Goa counterparts Eknath Shinde and Pramod Sawant, and Union minister Smriti Irani, among others, in attendance. The ministers, including Patel, were sworn in by Gujarat governor Acharya Devvrat at the helipad ground inside the new secretariat complex in Gandhinagar.
Patel, who replaced Vijay Rupani last year, became the 18th chief minister of PM Modi and Shah's home state. The saffron camp beat anti-incumbency by registering a record victory to retain power in Gujarat for the seventh straight term.
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Besides Patel and Babariya, Kanubhai Desai, Raghavji Patel, Rushikesh Patel, Kuber Dindor, Mulubhai Bera, Kuvarji Bavaliya and Balwantsinh Rajput took oath as Gujarat cabinet ministers.
BJP's youth icon Harsh Sanghavi along with Jagdish Vishwakarma were sworn in as ministers of state (independent charge). Praful Pansheriya, Kunvarji Halpati, and Parshottam Solanki, among others, also took oath as ministers of state.