NEW DELHI : Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah is travelling to Ahmedabad on Thursday to pick up the successor to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel. The legislature party’s meeting has been convened on Friday to formally elect her successor.
The party’s central parliamentary board on Wednesday accepted Anandiben’s offer on Monday to resign to give a chance to younger generation and authorised Shah to look for the new Chief Minister. He will be assisted by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and BJP general secretary Saroj Pandey, named as observers to attend the meeting of the MLAs. The BJP leaders were at pains to explain that Amit Shah is not in the race as stipulated in the media since Tuesday. His supporters from Gujarat have flooded the social media with the claim that he alone can steer the party to victory in the next Assembly elections in the state.
Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, who briefed the media after the Parliamentary Board’s meeting held at the PM’s House at 7 Race Course Road jointly chaired by Prime Minister Modi and Shah, emphatically ruled out the candidature of Shah for the Chief Ministerial post, asserting that the party needs him to lead at the national level.
He went on to assert that the successor to Anandiben will be from among the MLAs, not realising that Shah is also an MLA in Gujarat. Asked if Shah were also in the contention, Venkaiah Naidu shot back: “Such a question does not arise. There is no such discussion at all. He is the party president and going to remain party president. The party needs his leadership at the national level. He has taken the party to great heights and led it to many successes.” Venkaiah Naidu said the Parliamentary Board gave its approval to Anandiben Patel’s wish to quit, but it refrained from discussing any name for replacing her. It will be decided by Shah, Gadkari and Saroj Pandey in consultations with the MLAs who have to democratically elect their new leader, he said.
Meanwhile, the BJP’s national vice-president Dinesh Sharma, in-charge of Gujarat, has already reached Ahmedabad to consult the senior leaders before Shah reaches there on a 2-day trip to finalise selection of the successor. He said the final decision on the new CM will be taken by Shah, along with Gadkari and Saroj Pandey.
