After Amit Shah ‘assurance’, Nitin Patel takes charge as Gujarat deputy CM

After Amit Shah ‘assurance’, Nitin Patel takes charge as Gujarat deputy CM

Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who was unhappy over not getting portfolios of his choice in the new cabinet, took charge on Sunday after he was given the finance portfolio, following BJP president Amit Shah’s intervention.

“BJP president Amit Shah called up in the morning and assured me that I will be given a portfolio which befits my stature as the number two in the cabinet and as the deputy chief minister,” Patel told reporters at his residence.

“Shah asked me to take charge of my departments, so I will take charge today. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will meet Governor O P Kohli in the afternoon and give him a letter, informing him of the allocation of a new department to me,” he added.

Soon after taking charge, Patel left for his Assembly constituency, Mehsana, to meet his supporters.

Shortly after his arrival at Mehsana in the afternoon, Rupani announced in Gandhinagar that the finance portfolio had been given to Patel and that the issue was over now.

“We have made certain changes in the portfolios. We have given finance to Nitinbhai. With this, the issue is over now. Such small things happen in a big family like the BJP. I have already sent a letter to the Governor, informing him of this change in the portfolios,” the chief minister told reporters.

Patel maintained that the issue was not about some departments, but about “self-respect”.
“I had conveyed to the party high-command to either give me respectable departments or relieve me from the cabinet,” he said.