by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Ahmedabad : Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has re-opened the issue of renaming Ahmedabad as ‘Karnavati’, days after his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath renamed Allahabad as Prayagraj and mooted the idea of changing Faizabad to Ayodhya.
Soon after offering ‘darshan’ at the Bhadkrakali Temple on the Hindu new year on Thursday, Rupani said his government was committed to rename Ahmedabad as Karnavati. The task would be accomplished and the renaming would happen before the 2019 parliamentary elections.
The Chief Minister said all legal hurdles would be tackled for this purpose as “millions of Hindus in Ahmedabad and most parts of Gujarat wished” that the city was renamed as Karnavati.
The BJP has been using this name in all its official functions, events and publicity paraphernalia.
“My government is committed to the cause and we will ensure the the process is completed ahead of the Lok Sabha elections,” he told reporters.
In 2002 the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government with party veteran L.K. Advani as the Union Home Minister had rejected a 1990 proposal of the then BJP-ruled Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to rename Ahmedabad as Karnavati.
Later, the subsequent Congress-ruled local civic body overturned the proposal and retained the original name.
The Gujarat Congress asserted that Rupani’s idea to re-open the renaming issue was provoked by political motivation.
“The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation is under the BJP without a break for the last 13 years, the State Government for more than two decades and the Centre for the last four and a half years.
“Why was this not initiated all these years and being brought up again, just when the Lok Sabha elections are around the corner?” former state Congress president Arjun Modhvadia asked.
He asserted that the ruling BJP wanted to distract the distract public attention from the failures of the Modi government across all spheres and keep people bogged down in non-issues.
The BJP, meanwhile, stated that “Karnavati” was Ahmedabad’s original ancient after King Karnadev who had set up his kingdom here in 12th century. Ahmed Shah had conquered it in 1411 and the city was renamed after him as Ahmedabad.
A party spokesperson said, “The people of Ahmedabad have already embraced Karnavati, it is only a matter of legal process to be completed. It should be noted that this has nothing to do with the 2019 elections.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
By Amit Cowper,
Gandhinagar : Vijay Rupani and Nitin Patel were sworn in as Gujarat Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively for a second stint along with 19 Ministers at a grand function here on Tuesday, days after the BJP’s narrow victory in the state assembly polls.
The function held in the lawns of the Gandhinagar state secretariat, was attended by a horde of BJP dignitaries including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and national BJP president Amit Shah.
Rupani, who won the Rajkot West constituency seat with a whopping margin of over 54,000 votes over his Congress rival Indranil Rajyaguru, was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor O.P. Kohli. Rupani served as Chief Minister from August 7, 2016 till the 2017 elections, following Anandiben Patel’s resignation as Chief Minister citing the age factor.
Nitin Patel, who won the Mehsana constituency seat with a margin of around 6,000 votes, had also served at the newly-created position of Deputy Chief Minister from the time of Anandiben’s resignation.
Nine cabinet Ministers and 10 Ministers of State were also sworn in.
Ranchodbhai Chanabhai Faldu, who was an MLA of BJP in 1998-2002, 2002-2007 and was also state BJP president, was the first to be sworn in as cabinet Minister.
Bhupendrasinh Manubha Chudasama, who won the Dholka constituency seat with a meagre margin of 350 votes, was sworn in. Since 2012 he has been a cabinet Minister.
The other cabinet ministers sworn in were Saurabh Patel (Dalal) who also won on a thin margin of around 900 votes from Botad constituency. Dalal was also a former cabinet Minister during Narendra Modi and Anandiben’s reign. He was removed from the cabinet after the Rupani government was formed last year.
Ganapat Vasava, Jayesh Radadia, Dilip Thakore were sworn in as cabinet ministers. They were also part of the cabinet in the previous government.
The new faces that were inducted were Kaushikbhai Jamanadas Patel, who had served as Minister of State for energy, urban development departments and cabinet minister of energy, in the earlier BJP governments.
Another new face as cabinet minister was Ishwarbhai Parmar, who was a Minster of State in the Rupani government.
Other than that 10 Ministers of State were also sworn in.
Chief Ministers of 18 of the states led by the BJP were also present. Apart from that senior BJP leader L.K. Advani and Union Ministers were also present in the function.
After the oath ceremony, Modi took to Twitter assuring the people of Gujarat that the BJP government will leave no stone unturned in further developing the state, which the party has ruled since 1995.
“Congratulations to Vijay Rupani, Nitin Patel and all those who took oath as Ministers. My best wishes to this team in their endeavour to take Gujarat to new heights of progress,” Modi said.
“People from all walks of life joined the oath taking ceremony in Gandhinagar to bless the team that took oath today. We cherish these blessings and their affection,” he said.
“Political leaders, Chief Ministers of various states, our esteemed NDA allies and respected former Chief Ministers of Gujarat joined the occasion, making it even more special,” the Prime Minister said.
Modi, who was Gujarat’s Chief Minister between 2001 and 2014, went nostalgic and shared pictures of the ceremonies when he took oath in the past.
“Attending today’s oath taking ceremony in Gujarat brought back memories of the ceremonies in 2001, 2002, 2007 and 2012 when I got the opportunity to serve Gujarat as CM,” he said.
“I would once again like to thank the people of Gujarat for giving the BJP this opportunity to serve the state. The bond between Gujarat and BJP is extremely special. I assure my Gujarati sisters and brothers that we will leave no stone unturned in further developing Gujarat,” Modi added.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who also attended the oath ceremony here, tweeted, “Attended the oath-taking ceremony of Vijay Rupani as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. I am confident that Gujarat will continue its forward march on road to development and prosperity under the able leadership of Rupani.”
—IANS
