The Bharatiya Janata Party during a core meeting in Gandhinagar today announced Bhupendra Patel as the next Gujarat chief minister after Vijay Rupani on Saturday tendered his resignation. Former CM Vijay Rupani while talking to the media after the announcement said that Bhupendra Patel is capable to take over as the next chief minister.
Notably, Patel's name was proposed by Vijay Rupani himself, whose resignation from the post on Saturday surprised many.
Further, expressing sheer confidence, Rupani said, "We believe BJP will win the upcoming assembly elections in the state under his leadership."
"Bhupendra Patel is capable. We believe BJP will win the upcoming elections in the state under his leadership," Vijay Rupani was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Rupani, who on Saturday tendered his resignation, sought to dispel speculations about the reasons.
"I am a loyal soldier of the BJP and have resigned of my own accord. Nobody has asked me to do so. I will work to strengthen the organisation or whatever role the party leadership assigns me," he told the reporters after tendering the resignation to Governor Acharya Devvrat.
Patel (55) was unanimously elected BJP legislature party leader here on Sunday. Most of the 112 MLAs of the party in the 182-member Assembly were present at the meeting, BJP sources said.
Patel won the 2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections from Ghatlodia constituency, defeating Congress candidate Shashikant Patel by over one lakh votes, the highest winning margin in the 2017 Gujarat polls.
He holds a diploma in civil engineering and is considered close to former CM Anandiben Patel, who won from the seat in 2012 polls.
BJP's central observers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Joshi and party general secretary Tarun Chaug were present at the legislature party meet.
