(LiveMint)
Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel took charge on Sunday after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah agreed to Patel’s demand that an important portfolio be alloted to him. According to a state government statement, Patel was given the finance portfolio that had been earlier allotted to Saurabh Patel. It was not immediately known if Saurabh Patel, who also has the energy portfolio, would be given any additional department.
“My demand was not for any position or portfolio, for that is for the party to decide. I had communicated to the party earlier and even during the Cabinet meeting that being a deputy CM I should be given appropriate portfolios. I had even expressed before the party leaders that I should not be named as deputy CM if I don’t get proper portfolios,” Nitin Patel said on Sunday.
Nitin Patel, who was also the deputy chief minister in the earlier government led by chief minister Vijay Rupani, had handled key portfolios like petrochemicals, urban development and finance. All three portfolios were taken away from him after the BJP won a sixth straight term in Gujarat in recent elections.
