Jitubhai Vaghani, an MLA from Bhavnagar (West), has been appointed the president of Gujarat unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The post had fallen vacant following resignation of Vijay Rupani, who became the new chief minister of the state in a dramatic turn of events a few days ago.
The appointment of Vaghani, 46, has assumed significance as he belongs to the Patel community and hails from Saurashtra region where the Patels are vocal for getting reservation under the OBC category.
A graduate in commerce and law, Vaghani was a senate member of the Bhavnagar University.
He has been associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the RSS. Vaghani had also served as president of the youth wing of BJP’s Bhavnagar unit. In 2012, he won from Bhavnagar (West) by highest margin of votes in Saurashtra region.
His appointment was made by party's national president Amit Shah on Wednesday.
Earlier, Rupani was appointed the chief minister though the name of Nitin Patel, the senior-most minister in the outgoing chief minister Anandiben Patel’s cabinet, was doing the rounds. Nitin Patel eventually became the deputy chief minister.
The decision had triggered protests by Patels in the eastern part of Ahmedabad.
