The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Gujarat, which took oath to office today, includes six Patidar leaders and only one woman.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani's new Council of Ministers also includes five Other Backward Class (OBCs), three Scheduled Tribes (ST), three Kshatriyas and one Scheduled Caste (SC).
Patidar ministers include former state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Ranchhodbhai Chanabhai Faldu who represents the Jamnagar South constituency, Kaushik Patel representing Naranpura constituency, and Minister of State Kishor Kanani, among others.
Only woman Minister of State is Vibhavariben Dave, who is also only Brahmin in the Council. She is also a three-time MLA.
The 10-member cabinet headed by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and 10 ministers of state took oath in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah, in Gandhinagar today.
The sharp increase in number of Patidar faces in the Council could be attributed to the fact that BJP had to suffer a dip of 16 seats in its tally as the its seat share in 182 seat assembly went down from 115 to 99 in recent elections.
Even though BJP managed to gain a simple majority for the sixth consecutive time in Gujarat, The party struggled to gain support of its traditional allys in the Patel community due to agitations led by Congress backed Patidar leaders Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakor.
