Who Is Bhanuben Babariya? Lone Woman Minister In Gujarat Cabinet

Bhanuben Manoharbhai Babariya is one of the 17 ministers who took oath under the Bharatiya Janta Party headed Gujarat government on November 12. Babariya is the only woman minister in Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel's cabinet.

The three-time Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) belongs to a Scheduled Caste Community. Babariya defeated Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Vashrambhai Sagathiya for the Rajkot Rural seat.

Babariya took her oath at a function near the new Secretariat in Gandhinagar.

With only 17 members, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, this marks one of the smallest Council of Ministry under BJP's rule since 1998.

Patel's previous cabinet had 24 ministers including him. Bhanuben Babariya is one of the new faces that joined the Gujarat cabinet.

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Who Is Bhanuben Babariya?

• The lone woman minister in the Gujarat cabinet Bhanuben Babariya is a three-time MLA from Rajkot Rural and won the election from the same seat.
• The 47-year-old Babariya had previously won the 2007 and 2012 Gujarat assembly elections from Rajkot Rural.
• The minister defeated won the Rajkot Rural seat with 1,19,695 votes, which is 52.5 percent of the total votes cast in her constituency.
• AAP's Sagathiya received 71,201 votes and Congress' Bathwar Sureshkumar Karshanbhai received 29,175 votes.
• The three-time MLA Babariya is married to Manoharbhai Manubhai Babariya. Her husband is in the agriculture and construction business and is an active leader of BJP.
• Her father-in-law Madhubhai Babariya was also an MLA from Rajkot.
• Babariya is a law graduate from Kansagara college in Rajkot and is a councillor of Rajkot Municipal Corporation.

Gujarat Cabinet

Aside from Bhanuben Babariya, 16 ministers took oath under the BJP headed Gujarat government. The ministers who took oath earlier this week are Bhupendra Patel, Rushikesh Patel, Kanu Desai, Raghavji Patel, Kunvarji Bavaliya, Balwant Singh Rajput, Mulubhai Bera, Kuberbhai Mansukhbhai Dindor, Harsh Sanghavi, Parshottam Solanki, Jagdish Vishwakarma, Kuvarjibhai Halpati, Bachubhai Khabad, Mukeshbhai Zinabhai Patel, Bhikubhai Parmar, and Praful Panseria Kamrej.