AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat cabinet expansion under Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has left several ambitious turncoat leaders out in the cold. Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakor, once fiery faces of agitations that shook the BJP, now find themselves sidelined within the very party they joined to climb higher. With other Congress defectors also excluded, the BJP has sent a clear political message: the path to power runs through party loyalty, not past glory.

The Bhupendra Patel 3.0 cabinet expansion has landed like a political thunderbolt for several former Congress leaders who crossed over to the BJP, hoping for a ministerial berth. In one calculated move, the BJP has curtailed the ambitions of prominent turncoats, signalling who really holds the reins of power within Gujarat’s ruling party.

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