A BJP Legislature Party meeting is likely to be held in Ahmedabad on Sunday to elect the new Gujarat chief minister following the resignation of Vijay Rupani. All BJP MLAs, along with central observers, will be present at the meeting, party spokesperson Yamal Vyas said, adding that Union Home Minister Amit Shah, too, is likely to attend.
"The BJP legislature party is likely to meet on Sunday, but we will be able to confirm this once the central parliamentary board conveys the exact time of the meeting to us," Vyas said while talking to reporters after a meeting of party’s state leaders in the evening.
BJP national general secretary B.L. Santhosh and Union minister Bhupender Yadav met party state unit chief C.R. Paatil, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, ministers Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Pradipsinh Jadeja, state BJP general secretaries Pradipsinh Vaghela and Rajubhai Patel, and party's chief whip in the Assembly Pankaj Desai.
Rupani, 65, resigned on Saturday, over a year before Gujarat goes to assembly polls. He is the fifth chief minister to demit office in BJP-ruled states during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving a common worker like me this opportunity to serve the people of the state as chief minister,” Rupani said after submitting his resignation to Governor Acharya Devvrat.
The reason for the surprise announcement is not immediately known and Rupani denied that he had any differences with party’s state leadership. “In BJP, it is like a relay race for party workers. One gives the baton to the other,” he said.
The party has not made it clear who will succeed Rupani as the next CM though the names of Deputy CM Nitin Patel, state agriculture minister R.C. Faldu and Union ministers Purshottam Rupala and Mansukh Mandaviya are doing the rounds.
"Names of Patel, Faldu, Rupala and Mandaviya are being discussed. But it is impossible to say who will be the chief minister as the decision will be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” a party leader told news agency PTI.
