Rupani meets Gujarat Governor over government formation

Amit Shah also held a meeting with state leaders at the BJP headquarters to decide Mr Rupani’s successor.

Newly elected Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani is set to be sworn in along with deputy Chief Minister designate Nitin Patel and other ministers at Mahatma Mandir conference hall on Sunday.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced Rupani’s name as Chief Minister after a meeting of BJP MLAs. “I had stated that the Indian Army is the best in the world and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a leader with strong will-power”.

Rupani and Patel were decided as the new incumbents on Friday after Anandiben Patel submitted her resignation earlier this week. Rupani pipped his senior, State Health Minister Nitin Patel to the post.

Further protests in Gujarat last weekend by the low-caste Dalit community over attacks by militant Hindus who oppose cow slaughter led Anandiben Patel to tender her resignation on Monday.

Vijay Rupani is the state president of the BJP and was the minister for transport, water supply, labor and employment in Anandiben’s cabinet.

Patel, a veteran legislator and senior minister, was by Rupani’s side when he spoke to journalists.

Rupani belongs to Jain Bania community which is less than 2 per cent of Gujarat’s population.

It was after his intervention that she agreed on Rupani’s name for the chief ministerial post.

The party had made it clear that Amit Shah, who was considered the most ideal candidate to steer the party in Gujarat, would continue as the party chief, but his name still continued to be discussed here. In 1971, he joined the RSS and later the Jan Sangh.

Known to be close to both Amit Shah and Modi, Rupani began his political career as an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad leader and then graduated to the corporation politics in Saurashtra and especially Rajkot. But Nitin Patel couldn’t be ignored as he is playing an important role in dousing the fire between the government and the agitating Patidars (Patels) demanding reservation in government jobs and educational institutions.