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Gujarat: CM Vijay Rupani quits, just a year ahead of polls

Chief Minister said his resignation will give party’s leadership opportunity to bring new energy

Gujarat CMImage Courtesy:thestatesman.com

A year before the state of Gujarat goes to polls, Vijay Rupani resigned as its Chief Minister on September 11. Rupani told the media that the decision was taken by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the “larger interest of Gujarat” adding, “With my resignation, the party’s new leadership will get an opportunity. And we will all take Gujarat to new heights under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” 

He met the media outside Raj Bhavan shortly after tendering his resignation to Governor Acharya Devavrat. This coincidentally came hours after Rupani extended birthday greetings to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. 

Rupani, has maintained that he has stepped down willingly from the CM’s post, and called it a “natural process in our party. The party worker gets different responsibilities at different times. We do not call it a post, we call it a responsibility. Now, I will shoulder whatever responsibility the party gives me.” According to a report in the Indian Express he called it a “relay race. Everybody runs and moves ahead. I had the responsibility for five years. I was running. Now, I will give the flag to someone else. (Now) He will run” 

However, it is clear that Rupani has had no choice in the matter and has been told to follow the orders from the top. Rupani told the media that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was the face of the party, and that the Gujarat Assembly elections due in December 2022, will be fought under the PM’s leadership. According to the report, Rupani’s resigned hours after “attending the ground breaking ceremony of an educational complex of the Patidar community on the outskirts of Gandhinagar. PM Modi had made a virtual address at the event.” Reports are suggesting that there was pressure from Patidars that the next chief minister of Gujarat should be from their community.

Meanwhile, names of Gujarat’s Deputy CM Nitin Patel as well as state BJP president CR Paatil have begun doing the rounds, as possible candidates for the CM’s job. Recently Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel was in the news for making controversial statements about the Constitution, and secularism. As reported by Indian Express and other media he was speaking at the Bharat Mata Mandir in Gandhinagar, during the idol installation ceremony, organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and said, “In our country, some people talk about the Constitution, secularism. But I tell you, and if you want to video record this, then do it…Note down my words. Those talking about the Constitution, secularism, law etc will do so only till Hindus are in majority in this country… The day… the number of Hindus decreases, of others’ increases, [there will be] no secularism, no Lok Sabha, no Constitution. Everything will be (tossed) in the air and buried. Nothing will remain.”

BJP president CR Paatil too was in the news for urging co-operative leaders in Gandhinagar to participate in planting 71 lakh trees in the state as part of celebration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday. According to Indian Express “Paatil sought participation of cooperative bodies in celebrations of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on 17th September and helped achieve the target of planting 71 lakh trees during a pan-state simultaneous tree plantation drive. He appealed to cooperative leaders to make Modi’s birthday memorable by taking up this task of environment conservation.”

For the now ex-CM Rupani, social media users aligning with the Opposition began reminding everyone that his biggest ‘achievement’ was renaming the Dragon Fruit as  ‘Kamalam’ in Gujarat. In January Vijay Rupani had announced, “The State government has decided to rename Dragon Fruit. As the outer shape of the fruit resembles a lotus, hence Dragon Fruit shall be renamed as Kamalam.”

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