The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Anandiben sworn in as Gujarat CM
Drops Modi Cabinet’s three ministers of state, inducts four new faces
Manas Dasgupta

Gandhinagar, May 22
A 21-member two-tier ministry headed by the first state woman Chief Minister Anandiben Patel was installed in the office in Gujarat today replacing the ministry headed by Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi.

Governor Kamala Beniwal administered the oath of office and secrecy to Anandiben and her ministers at a special ceremony held at the sprawling Mahatma Mandir Hall in the presence of a large number of dignitaries, including the top BJP leadership in the country.

Anandiben Cabinet will have six ministers of the Cabinet rank and 14 ministers of state. She has retained all the Cabinet ministers of the 23-member Modi Cabinet but dropped three ministers of state and inducted four new faces in the ministers of state rank.

Two ministers of state in the Modi Cabinet, Liladhar Vaghela and Jashwant Bhabhor, have been elected to the Lok Sabha and would be heading for Delhi after quitting the state Assembly membership.

Besides Modi, those present on the occasion were LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Vasundhara Raje and a host of other leaders. Former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, who had resigned from the party and had become the president of the now defunct Gujarat Parivartan Party, was also present.

Modi came down to receive Keshubhai when he arrived in the hall and made him to sit next to him. Modi had resigned both as the chief minister and as a member of the state Assembly yesterday.

Among the ministers Anandiben retained from the Modi Cabinet included Nitin Patel, Saurabh Patel, Bhupendrasinh Chudasma, who themselves were claimants for the CM’s post, Ramanlal Vora, Ganpat Vasava and Babubhai Bokhiria.

The ministers of state retained are Dillip Thakore, Vasuben Trivedi, Pradipsinh Jadeja, Chhatrasinh Mori, Jayadrathsinh Parmar, Rajnikant Patel, Govind Patel, Nanubhai Vanani, Jayantibhai Kavadia and Jayesh Radaria. Four new faces are Shankar Chaudhary, who was one of the state party general secretaries, Tarachand Chheda, Bachubhai Kavad and Kanti Gamit. Purshottam Solanki, who was an accused in the 1993 Mumbai riots, along with Vasan Ahir and Parbat Patel have been dropped from the Cabinet.

Star-studded swearing-in

Besides Modi, those present for the swearing-in ceremony were LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Vasundhara Raje and a host of other leaders

Former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, who had resigned from the party and had become the president of the now defunct Gujarat Parivartan Party, was also present

Modi came down to receive Keshubhai when he arrived in the hall and made him to sit next to him

	Modi bids goodbye to home state Tribune News Service Ahmedabad, May 22 “Aavojo Gujarat” (Goodbye Gujarat) said the Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi, as he boarded a private plane at the Ahmedabad airport for Delhi this evening, leaving his home state for good. As he has passed on the baton of the state to the first woman Chief Minister of the state, Anandiben Patel, Modi also passed on his lucky pen to his successor at the airport. As Anandiben presented him a bouquet of flowers to him, Modi took out his pen from his jacket pocket and handed it over to Anandiben. Her cabinet colleagues, a large number of government and police officers and others were present at the airport to give him a warm send-off. Before bidding farewell to people of the state, Modi thanked the media for the co-operation extended to him during his 13 years as CM. In the evening before leaving for Ahmedabad, Modi again called on his mother Heeraben at her Gandhinagar residence to seek her blessings. She offered him sweets and Rs 101 as her blessings, which Modi said was more valuable to him than any other money in the world. Modi had met his mother after the massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections on May 16. He said he had preserved all the money he has so far received from his mother at different occasions as the most valuable treasure. Gets Rs 101 as blessing from mother for new job Before leaving for Ahmedabad, Modi called on his mother, Heeraben, at her Gandhinagar residence to seek her blessings. She offered him sweets and Rs 101 as her blessings, which Modi said was more valuable to him than any other money in the world.
	Sonia meets old, young guard to assess defeat Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 22 In the first exercise to take stock of the party’s massive electoral defeat across states, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today held back-to-back meetings with the old and young guard to seek their assessment of what went wrong. She took party’s reins firmly in her hands days after the Congress Working Committee, urged her to return to the driver’s seat and revamp the organisation - a task she had left to her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi ahead of Lok Sabha elections. Priya Dutt, Congress secretary in charge of communications, former Punjab Chief Minister and party’s Amritsar MP Capt Amarinder Singh, Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh, Assam CM Tarun Gogoi and Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Shivraj Patil met Sonia today. The leaders, it is learnt, gave inputs on the causes behind the Congress rout in their states. Rahul’s young brigade is especially vocal in criticising his team of strategists, which included AICC general secretary Madhusudan Mistry, Jairam Ramesh and Rajeev Gandhi Foundation Director Mohan Gopal, saying they did not involve candidates in finalising the campaign messages. Defeated by BJP’s Poonam Mahajan in the Mumbai North Central segment by 1.86 lakh votes, Priya Dutt told The Tribune after meeting Sonia: “I gave my input to party president who assimilated everything. I told her that we were fighting elections and had our ears to the grounds, but the decision makers in the organisation did not involve us in finalising campaign materials. Also, the BJP had gained ground well in advance we were completely outmatched by the saffron party in campaigning. We need to assess why we lost by such huge margins.” Former MP Milind Deora, who lost the Mumbai South segment by 1.28 lakh votes, also attacked Rahul’s strategy team for being out of touch with the ground and failing to mount a campaign that resonated with the people. Among the older guard, Sonia met Virbhadra Singh who ruled out resigning in the wake of the defeat today, although his counterpart in Assam Tarun Gogoi offered his resignation which Sonia rejected. “I told the party president that the vote was for one individual - BJP’s Narendra Modi - and not against the Himachal Government. Our defeat is a collective failure. Those who lost despite holding major positions are more responsible. We must now strengthen the organisation,” said Virbhadra Singh. The meeting between Capt Amarinder Singh and Sonia was critical as it came after Amarinder’s interview to The Tribune on Wednesday where he demanded a leadership role in Punjab. Although Amarinder downplayed the meeting saying the two discussed the overall national situation and didn’t talk Punjab, the fact that he met Congress general secretary in charge of Punjab Shakeel Ahmed later for lunch meant that the Punjab crisis was an item on the table. Punjab Governor Patil may resign Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Shivraj Patil on Thursday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi for around half an hour Congress sources did not rule out a possibility of Patil contemplating to resign as the new government will be sworn in soon There was no confirmation, however, from Patil’s office on the context of his meeting with the Congress chief. Patil was appointed the Governor of Punjab in June 2010.
	AAP to challenge court’s decision against Kejri Ananya Panda Tribune News Service New Delhi, May 22 Continuing to defend the arrest of their party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders have decided to “challenge” tomorrow the Patiala Metropolitian court’s decision in the criminal defamation case filed by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari. They said the AAP would stick to its “principled” decision of not paying the bail amount and instead approach the high court. The party also announced a door-to-door contact campaign to apprise people about the circumstances leading to the former Delhi CM’s arrest. The AAP would argue the judge’s decision pertaining to the bail bond in the local court on May 23, citing Section 88 of the CrPC and the precedence in four such cases— filed by former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s political secretary Pavan Khera and Amit Sibal and two other cases related to protests against the coal scam— wherein the judge concerned did not insist on such a bond or surety but accepted an undertaking. Noting that even the Supreme Court has stated that personal undertaking is good enough, party leader and lawyer Prashant Bhushan asserted, “The judge has proceeded on an erroneous understanding of the law that in all such cases they have to take a person into custody or release him with bond. This sort of practice of the magistrate and the criminal courts is a wrong view. We will go to the higher court if required.” Meanwhile, AAP leaders and Kejriwal’s wife Sunita visited him at Tihar where he is lodged in the same room where Anna Hazare was kept in 2011. Kejriwal is fine and practising meditation, they said.
	SP dissolves state unit, 15 cells Shahira Naim Tribune News Service Lucknow, May 22 Continuing the course correction after the LS poll rout, the Samajwadi party today dissolved its state unit and 15 associated cells. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, however, would continue to hold charge of state SP president, said SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhury. In today’s development there clearly appears to be a mismatch between diagnosis and the treatment. One of the major grievances that came up during the marathon three days of review with losing candidates, party cadre and ministers is that Akhilesh, doubly burdened by the governmental and party responsibilities, is not able to focus on either.
	Powell leaves India, Kathleen Stephens to be interim envoy New Delhi, May 22 US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell today headed back to her country after an eventful stint here and will be replaced temporarily early next month by Kathleen Stephens, a career diplomat. Powell, 67, who assumed charge as the US Ambassador here in April 2012, had announced end of her tenure in India in March this year. Stephens will replace her until a new permanent ambassador is nominated and confirmed by the US Senate. President Barack Obama has not yet nominated anyone for this diplomatic posting. A career foreign service officer, Stephens is expected to arrive in New Delhi early June. She was the US ambassador to South Korea from 2008 to 2011 and earlier served in senior positions. — PTI
	SC won't hear Srini's plea for reinstatement as BCCI head R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent New Delhi, May 22 A Vacation Bench of the Supreme Court today refused to entertain N Srinivasan's plea for being reinstated as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The Bench comprising Justices BS Chauhan and AK Sikri said since another Bench had passed the order appointing Sunil Gavaskar and Shivlal Yadav as interim Presidents it was not inclined to hear Srinivasan's fresh plea. "We are not here to modify the orders passed by other Benches," the judges clarified. Arguing for Srinivasan, senior advocate Nagendra Rai persisted with his plea contending that everything was in favour of his client. Unconvinced, the Bench pointed out that the SC had passed the order March 28 in the presence of Srinivasan's counsel. "It was not that the order was passed ex parte requiring our intervention" when the court was closed for the summer vacation, it remarked. Further, the Bench told Rai that Justice AK Patnaik, who had presided over the Bench that passed the order against Srinivasan, was very much in town and he was free to approach that judge if he wanted any modification. The SC brought in Gavaskar and Yadav after Srinivasan had agreed to step aside as BCCI chief until he was cleared of the charges of betting and spot fixing over IPL matches. An SC panel headed by Justice Mukul Mudgal, former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and assisted by a probe team is investigating the allegations against about 15 persons, including Srinivasan.