On Friday after noon, Patel’s anointment as the CM was being called a mere formality.
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With the Patidar protests having taken place in Kadi and other parts of northern Gujarat, the community has been divided over accepting Nitin Patel as someone who can represent their concerns in the government, though Patel has been leading the talks between the state and the agitating community. In whichever state the BJP has formed the government, be it Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh or Chhattisgarh, it is still in power.
After a long meeting, that was attended by Amit Shah, Vijay Rupani, Nitin Patel, Anandiben and V Satish, both sides reached on a compromise and decided on Vijay Rupani’s name for the chief minister’s post, and Nitin Patel’s for that of deputy chief minister. The formal letter from the party pertaining to the two appointments will be presented to the Governor O P Kohli on Saturday. By appointing Rupani, Amit Shah gets his man to the top job and compensates the ire of Patidars with Nitin Patel as deputy chief minister.
The decision to appoint Rupani as CM came as a major twist as Patel was the frontrunner for the post after the former had bowed out from the race, saying he would like to work for the party.
Nitin Patel told Indian news channels on Friday he was determined to start a dialogue with Dalit leaders and find ways to end the agitation. Mediapersons asked Gadkari who was quick to answer “Sabka saath sabka vikas”.
Patel had twice offered to resign and also broached the issue in the party’s National Executive meet in June and wrote to him again today morning. The BJP has very intelligently backed a neutral candidate, a non-OBC face, to lead them into the very crucial 2017 state assembly elections.
While Shah is known for his sharp attacks on Mamata, and the party workers had hoped for some caustic barbs, on Wednesday the BJP chief harped mostly on development.
Rupani did not reveal the date and time of swearing-in function of the new Chief Minister, however, it is prone to be hung on Sunday at Mahatma Mandir.
Amit Shah is a legislator from the Naranpura consituency. Making his first remarks after the selection, Rupani was careful in his choice of words. “It was then that Shah insisted Rupani should be appointed the CM”, said a party source. “It was a unanimous decision”, said Gadkari at the press conference.
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No name of her successor was discussed in the Board’s meeting, he said.
