New Delhi: Hours after attending a virtual event where PM Narendra Modi dedicated Ahmedabad’s Sardardham Bhavan to the public, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani tendered his resignation saying the state needed to move forward with renewed vigour and dynamism.
Change of guard:
- March 3: Trivendra Singh Rawat quits as Uttarakhand CM
- July 7: Tirath Singh Rawat steps down as Uttarakhand CM
- July 27: BS Yediyurappa resigns from K’taka CM’s post
Rupani had replaced Gujarat’s first and only woman CM Anandiben Patel after she quit in August 2016 following the Patidar agitation that eroded the BJP’s electoral base, bringing the party down to 99 seats, its lowest-ever score in Gujarat since coming to power in 1995.
Rupani’s exit signals the ruling BJP’s urge to offset anti-incumbency and Covid-induced inertia ahead of the 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections. Sources indicated that Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya (49), state Deputy CM Nitin Patel, Union minister Parshottam Rupala and state unit chief CR Patil are among the frontrunners for the CM’s post. The name of state minister RC Faldu is also among probables.
The BJP legislature party is expected to meet tomorrow to elect the new leader. After tendering his resignation to Governor Acharya Devvrat, Rupani said, “I am grateful to the PM for affording me the opportunity to contribute to Gujarat’s development journey. The state needs to move forward under the PM’s leadership with new vigour now. The party has a tradition of workers executing the responsibility given to them. I will do the same. I was a party worker and will remain one.”
Rupani is the fourth BJP CM to resign in six months after Trivendra Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat in Uttrakhand and BS Yediyurappa in Karnataka.
Sources said the need to win big in Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s home state weighed on BJP’s mind while executing the smooth ouster of Rupani. The PM acted in time to recover lost ground, they added.
Yesterday, BJP’s organisational general secretary BL Santosh met Rupani asking him to resign. A day before, Amit Shah met Rupani in Ahmedabad.
Among probable replacements, Mandaviya has age on his side. His rise in the BJP has been spectacular. He became Rajya Sabha member in 2012 and has since risen up the ladder becoming Union Health Minister this July. If Mandaviya is picked, he would need to get elected to the Assembly in six months, while state elections are just about a year away.
Sources said the principal challenge for the party is to decide whether to name a Patidar as CM in which case Nitin Patel (65) could take lead.