BJP retains Vijay Rupani as Gujarat CM, Nitin Patel as his deputy

Ahmedabad: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has retained Vijay Rupani as the chief minister of Gujarat after emerging victorious in the recently concluded elections, announced Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday.

The decision to elect Rupani as the leader of legislative party was officially announced after a high-profile legislative party meeting convened by Jaitley and joined by newly elected BJP MLAs in Gandhinagar.

Interacting with the media persons here, Jaitley said, "Vijay Rupani has been chosen as Legislature party leader unanimously. Nitin Bhai Patel has been named his deputy. We will inform you all about the swearing in soon."

Defining the process of electing the CM and Deputy CM, he said, "Process of electing is that we set process into motion as Central Observers call upon elected MLAs to propose a name. Bhupendra Singh proposed these two names for the leader and Deputy leader and it was supported by five other MLAs who came to the dais and supported them."

"This was then put to the house which they unanimously accepted. I also asked the members if anybody had any alternative proposal, and since there was none, the two were declared as unanimously elected," he concluded.

Who is Vijay Rupani?

• He is a BJP MLA from Rajkot West.
• He was born in Myanmar, his family relocated to Rajkot.
• During the previous BJP regime in Gujarat, PM Modi and Amit Shah had elected Rupani to replace Anandiben Patel as the CM of the state.
• Before becoming the CM, he was the chief of BJP's Gujarat unit.
• He began his political career from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
• He was a Rajya Sabha member of BJP from Gujarat from 2006 to 2012.

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There had been speculations about Rupani's retention as the CM of the state. The speculations were also rife that BJP, which secured 99 seats in the 182-member assembly, may name two deputy chief ministers keeping in mind the caste equation, as they did in Uttar Pradesh earlier this year.

Ganpat Vasava, the tribal face in the party, was also speculated to be one of the two Deputy CMs of the state, as he has been working for the party since long.

As per the highly placed sources, Vijay Rupani may take oath for second term as Gujarat CM on December 25. The source has claimed that December 25 has been chosen for the oath taking ceremony as it is the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

It may be recalled that earlier on Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel had tendered their resignation at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday.