NARENDRA Modi, who led the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to an emphatic victory in the assembly elections, was on Wednesday (December 26) sworn in as chief minister of Gujarat for the fourth time.
He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Kamla Beniwal at an impressive ceremony at Sardar Patel Stadium.
Modi was sworn in along with seven ministers of Cabinet rank and nine Ministers of State.
Nitin Patel, Anandi Patel, Raman Vora, Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Saurabh Patel, Ganpat Vasawa, Babhubhai Bokhiriya took oath as Cabinet ministers, while Purshottam Solanki, Parbat Patel, Vasuben Trivedi, Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Liladhar Vaghela, Rajnikant Patel, Govind Patel, Nanubhai Vanani and Jayanti Kavadiya took oath as Ministers of State.
A galaxy of top BJP leaders and those of its allies were present.
Those in attendance included BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, senior leader LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, party’s leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively, chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his Chhattisgarh counterpart Raman Singh.
The presence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, added grist to speculation about a possible realignment of her AIADMK with BJP-led NDA.
Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal, Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, his cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray, RPI leader Ramdas Athawale were also present.
As expected, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has been keeping distance from Modi, as also his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, were conspicuous by their absence.
However, Bihar BJP president CP Thakur attended the ceremony.
Modi’s mother Heeraben, who was also present, was seen flashing the victory sign.
Modi greeted all prominent leaders present at the ceremony before taking oath in Gujarati amid chants of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai (Victory be to mother India).
