Gujarat’s first woman Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Tuesday took oath as Governor of Madhya Pradesh in the state capital of Bhopal.

Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court Justice Hemant Gupta administered the oath of office to Anandiben at a function at the Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

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The post of Madhya Pradesh Governor was vacant and Gujarat Governor OP Kohli was assigned the charge till now.

Anandiben Patel had stepped down as Chief Minister in August 2016 citing overage as the reason. During the 2017 state assembly elections, she had refused to contest, and it was believed the BJP would assign her a larger role in politics.

She will be the second Gujarat Minister from the BJP to have been made a Governor. Earlier, Vajubhai Vala, a former BJP MLA from Gujarat, was made Governor of Karnataka.

Madhya Pradesh will see state assembly elections this year and Patel might have been assigned the role by the party high command keeping the forthcoming polls in mind.