<p>New Delhi: Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani died in the Boeing Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday. The senior BJP leader was travelling to London to join his wife Anjaliben and daughter, who lives in the UK. Rupani and his wife were scheduled to return to India later this month.</p>.<p>Rupani is the second Gujarat CM to perish in an aviation crash. The first was Balwantrai Mehta, who died in an air tragedy during the 1965 India-Pakistan war. Mehta’s Beechcraft plane, on a routine flight to Meethapur in Kutch with seven passengers on board, was shot down by a Pakistani fighter jet. None survived that crash.</p>.<p>Rupani began his political career with the BJP's student wing, the ABVP. A lawyer by profession, he later entered active politics as a corporator in the Rajkot Municipal Corporation.</p>.Former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani killed in Air India plane crash: Politicians we lost in flight tragedies in past.<p>He was born in Yangon, Myanmar, in a Jain business family that moved back to India in 1960. He was to join the Jan Sangh later, and was actively involved in student politics.</p>.<p>He worked closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the latter contested his first direct election from Rajkot on becoming the CM of Gujarat in 2001.</p>.<p>It was during this campaign that this reporter first met Rupani, who “nurtured no ambition of even entering the state Assembly”. “This is a Patel-dominated seat. Do I stand a chance?” he would say.</p>.<p>The party recognised the work he put in during the polls and elevated him as chairman of the state tourism corporation.</p>.<p>Things started working in Rupani’s favour as local strongman Vajubhai Vala, who later became Karnataka's Governor, moved out of state politics. Rupani was promoted further in the state BJP and brought to Delhi as a Rajya Sabha member.</p>.<p>When Modi became PM in 2014, Anandiben Patel took charge as the state CM. Two years later, when Patel stepped down, Rupani — backed by the BJP’s central leadership — emerged as a replacement.</p>.<p>The BJP won the 2017 Assembly polls under his leadership, and Rupani got another chance to lead the government.</p>.<p>During his second innings, he faced a strong pushback from the Patel community, which was demanding reservations in government jobs and education.</p>.<p>Ahead of the next Assembly polls in 2022, he was replaced by the incumbent Bhupendra Patel.</p>
<p>New Delhi: Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani died in the Boeing Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday. The senior BJP leader was travelling to London to join his wife Anjaliben and daughter, who lives in the UK. Rupani and his wife were scheduled to return to India later this month.</p>.<p>Rupani is the second Gujarat CM to perish in an aviation crash. The first was Balwantrai Mehta, who died in an air tragedy during the 1965 India-Pakistan war. Mehta’s Beechcraft plane, on a routine flight to Meethapur in Kutch with seven passengers on board, was shot down by a Pakistani fighter jet. None survived that crash.</p>.<p>Rupani began his political career with the BJP's student wing, the ABVP. A lawyer by profession, he later entered active politics as a corporator in the Rajkot Municipal Corporation.</p>.Former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani killed in Air India plane crash: Politicians we lost in flight tragedies in past.<p>He was born in Yangon, Myanmar, in a Jain business family that moved back to India in 1960. He was to join the Jan Sangh later, and was actively involved in student politics.</p>.<p>He worked closely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the latter contested his first direct election from Rajkot on becoming the CM of Gujarat in 2001.</p>.<p>It was during this campaign that this reporter first met Rupani, who “nurtured no ambition of even entering the state Assembly”. “This is a Patel-dominated seat. Do I stand a chance?” he would say.</p>.<p>The party recognised the work he put in during the polls and elevated him as chairman of the state tourism corporation.</p>.<p>Things started working in Rupani’s favour as local strongman Vajubhai Vala, who later became Karnataka's Governor, moved out of state politics. Rupani was promoted further in the state BJP and brought to Delhi as a Rajya Sabha member.</p>.<p>When Modi became PM in 2014, Anandiben Patel took charge as the state CM. Two years later, when Patel stepped down, Rupani — backed by the BJP’s central leadership — emerged as a replacement.</p>.<p>The BJP won the 2017 Assembly polls under his leadership, and Rupani got another chance to lead the government.</p>.<p>During his second innings, he faced a strong pushback from the Patel community, which was demanding reservations in government jobs and education.</p>.<p>Ahead of the next Assembly polls in 2022, he was replaced by the incumbent Bhupendra Patel.</p>