How Bhupendra Patel’s appointment as Gujarat CM will benefit BJP in 2022 polls

Many were surprised when the low-profile leader was chosen for the CM post but the move will benefit the party in the upcoming election

First-time MLA and new chief minister of Gujarat Bhupendra Patel comes to power in the state a year before Assembly polls, with his predecessor Vijay Rupani cheering him on, saying that the BJP will win under Patel’s leadership.

Many, including the Opposition, questioned the saffron party’s intention behind picking a low-profile leader like Patel, who had about 14,000 Twitter followers till yesterday’s announcement (the number has since jumped to over 64,000). But this move may be the right step for the party in the key state.

First Kadva Patel to become Gujarat CM

Bhupendra Patel, an MLA from Ghatlodia in Ahmedabad, has a strong support base in the Patidar community, which BJP wants on its side before the polls. He is also the first Kadva Patel to become chief minister of Gujarat.

The Patidar community makes up 12 per cent of the state’s population according to the last caste census conducted in 1931. It is one of the most influential castes in the state with about 80 per cent of them being Leuva and Kadva Patels, according to a report. This community had led BJP’s rise to power in the early nineties. They majorly inhabit the northern regions in the state and parts of Saurashtra.

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BJP has won support from the community for years but a Patidar agitation led by Hardik Patel, who is now with Congress, just before the 2017 elections, upset BJP’s apple cart. The number of seats won by BJP fell from 115 seats in 2012 polls to 99 in 2017.

Of the 182 seats in Gujarat Assembly, 16 seats have a majority Patidar population, of which nine are in Saurashtra, three in north Gujarat and four in Surat, the report added. With Bhupendra Patel, BJP hopes to get the community back in its corner.

Patel has never held a ministerial post, just like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was never a minister when he became Gujarat CM 20 years ago. Modi was sworn in as CM on October 7, 2001, and became an MLA on February 24, 2002, by winning the Rajkot seat bypoll.

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