IN 2016, Anandiben Patel stepped down as Gujarat chief minister, citing age-related issues. The real reason though was her alleged mishandling of the Patidar agitation for reservation. Five years later, Vijay Rupani has resigned to appease the powerful Patel community. In a surprise move, the BJP named Bhupendra Patel, 59, a first-time MLA from Ghatlodiya in Ahmedabad, as chief minister. He was picked over many seniors, including deputy chief minister Nitin Patel.
Rupani, it seemed, was meant to be a stop-gap chief minister all along. Rumours of his replacement had been doing the rounds ever since he took the top job. But the BJP had been waiting for the right time to effect a change of guard. With the Covid-19 situation normalising in the state, it found its window ahead of the assembly polls next year.
Rupani, who belongs to the Jain community, is said to be close to Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He was known as a “sensitive” chief minister. Even when at home, he would often spend time tracking the work of various departments on the ‘CM dashboard’, a real-time monitoring system.
This story is from the September 26, 2021 edition of THE WEEK.
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This story is from the September 26, 2021 edition of THE WEEK.
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