BJP Rubbishes Amit Shah For Gujarat Rumour, Says He Will Pick Chief Minister

Ahmedabad: Anandiben Patel's resignation has been accepted and party chief Amit Shah will decide who will succeed her as Gujarat chief minister, the BJP's top decision makers, the parliamentary board, decided at a meeting today at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Race Course Road residence in Delhi.

Briefing reporters on the meeting, senior leader Venkaiah Naidu dismissed rumours that Mr Shah himself was in line for the top job in his home state. "Amit Shah will remain BJP president and will decide on the new CM. The party wants him to lead us in national politics," Mr Naidu said.

Anandiben, he said, will meet the state governor today to formally resign and lawmakers in Gujarat will elect a new leader tomorrow.

Among the frontrunners for the post is Gujarat BJP chief Vijay Rupani, a Jain leader known to be close to both PM Modi and Amit Shah. Mr Rupani is reputed to have a form grip over the administrative mechanism of the state government.

There is also Gujarat's most senior minister Nitin Patel, who holds several key portfolios in the Gujarat government and is, like Anandiben, an influential Patel leader from north Gujarat. Mr Patel had headed the committee that held negotiations with leaders of the Patel or Patidaar agitation for reservation in government jobs and colleges.

But he has also had several run-ins with leaders of the agitation including 23-year-old Hardik Patel, whose arrest on sedition charges last year was seen as an ill-advised move. Leaders of the agitation have called for a protest every time the minister visits his home district Mehsana.

Others in the race are union minister Purshottam Rupala and Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ganpat Vasava.

Ms Patel, Gujarat's first woman chief minister, had announced her resignation on Facebook on Monday, saying she was quitting two months before her 75th birthday in accordance with the party's practice of retiring older leaders to give a chance to younger leaders.

The BJP board praised Anandiben today for "setting an example for lakhs of BJP workers," Mr Naidu said.

Anandiben Patel is accused of mismanaging both the Patel agitation for reservation and the recent Dalit protests over the brutal beating of four young men by cow vigilantes. The BJP, which has ruled the state for 25 years straight, also suffered a humiliating setback in municipal elections and the new chief minister will have to make urgent corrections to revive the party's stock in time for assembly elections next year in Gujarat, which is also PM Modi's home state.