Thus, despite installing his man as the new chief minister, Shah has lost out in Gujarat – a state from which he draws his strength.
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Earlier, there were speculations that Nitinbhai Patel or Amit Shah could take charge as Chief Minister. Said a party insider, “The BJP’s Dalit leaders are unhappy, despite belonging to a region where the incident took place (Saurashtra), Rupani never visited Una, nor did he meet the four Dalit victims when they were under treatment in Ahmedabad”.
Meanwhile, the political circles are abuzz with the likey choice of her replacement.
A senior BJP leader pointed out: “Gujarat mein Modiji ke ishare ke bina patta bhi nahin hilta (In Gujarat, even a leaf does not move without Modi’s permission)”.
The Board also appointed Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and party general secretary Saroj Pandey as central observers for the legislature party meeting in which the new leader will be formally elected.
Vijay Rupani is extremely close to Amit Shah and it has worked in his favour.
After the resignation of Anandi Patel who will be the next Chief Minister of Gujrat? The party needs his leadership at the national level.
In the meantime, Health Minister and a leader for the pined for post-Nitin Patel has said that whoever will be picked at Friday’s meeting, he alongside all MLAs will bolster him wholeheartedly. The resignation of Anandiben Patel as chief minister after her failure to adroitly handle the Patidar (or Patel) agitation and the subsequent Dalit stir are indeed cast in the firefighting mould. A compromise government led by industries minister Suresh Mehta didn’t last even a year.
BJP had suffered humiliating setback in the civic polls held previous year, with the opposition Congress scoring brownie points at the expense of its saffron rival. The demand for reservations is actually an expression of anger against what they see as their gradual marginalisation in the state’s power structure.
So there were strong political reasons for the BJP to look beyond Anandiben. What is more, there is no Godhra or the possibility of a Hindu-Muslim conflagration this time that can be used the way Modi did so effectively by the time the state went to the polls in December 2002. “I will attain the age of 75 in November”, Anandiben had said in a Facebook post. She said if Vibrant Gujarat has to happen in January, then new person should get the opportunity now.
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The official announcement of Mr. Patel’s appointment will be made after the BJP legislative party meeting at 4 p.m.
