Governor Dr Kamla Beniwal administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly inducted ministers at a swearing-in ceremony at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.
All six of them were sworn in as ministers of state, taking the total number of ministers in the Modi government to 23, which is still less than the norm of 28.
The expansion has been done to boost the party's performance in the forthcoming 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Little wonder, the caste balance has been given utmost importance. A Patel, OBC, tribal, koli and Kshatiyas have been selected. However, there has been only one fresh face — Jayesh Radadiya. The others had been ministers earlier.
MLA from Jetpur (Saurashtra) Jayesh (32), who along with his father, Saurashtra strongman Vitthal Radadiya, joined the BJP by severing ties with the Congress in February, has also become the youngest minister. He is a Leuva Patel.
While the Cabinet has many Patel leaders, his inclusion was part of a condition that the Radadiyas had made to change loyalties.
The other five are Vasan Ahir (OBC from Anjar Kutch), Jaydrathsinh Parmar (Kshatriya from Halol, central Gujarat), Dilip Thakor (OBC from Chanasma, northern Gujarat), Jaswantsinh Bhabhor (tribal from Limkheda, central Gujarat) and Chhatrasinh Mori (Koli from Jambusar, central Gujarat).
By allocating tourism and civil aviation portfolio, the Modi government has expressed faith in young Radadiya.
However, the portfolio of tainted minister Purshottam Solanki has been reduced to only one department of Labour and Employment, as his other portfolio — Fisheries — has been allocated to Thakore along with Animal Husbandary and Cow Conservation and printing related work.
Bhabhor has been given forest and environment along with Tribal Development. He will be junior minister to Ganpat Vasava, who is also a tribal.
Source: IE
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