Their names were unanimously finalised by 99 legislators from ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at party headquarters in Gandhinagar.
"There is only one resolution. To elect Vijay Rupani as leader of BJP legislature party and Nitin Patel as deputy leader. This resolution be passed unanimously," Union Finance Minister and BJP national observer Arun Jaitley said.
The names were proposed by senior BJP leader and legislator from Dholka Bhupendrasinh Chudasama. Both the leaders were seen sharing sweets after an hour-long selection process that saw a core committee meeting being convened under the chairmanship of the finance minister, before the meeting of all the elected legislators from the BJP.
There was no drama that was witnessed in August of 2016, when the 61-year-old Saurashtra leader Rupani had upstaged then chief ministerial front-runner and North Gujarat strongman Nitin Patel to emerge as Gujarat's new chief minister. Rupani is a confidant of BJP national president Amit Shah while Nitin Patel is a prominent Patel leader.
This time, the selection process was clinical in the presence of party's national observers Arun Jaitley and Saroj Pandey. Amit Shah stayed away this time, while former chief minister Anandiben Patel was present.
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