Under pressure, Gujarat CM offers to step down

Gujarat’s first woman Chief Minister Anandiben Patel offered to resign from the post, apparently prompted by mounting pressure within the BJP and outside over her government’s handling of a string of political protests.

“For sometime now, there has been a tradition in the party that those who attain the age of 75 voluntarily retire from the post. I will attain the age of 75 in November. It (the age rule) is a good thing and it will give a chance to young leaders to come up,” she posted in Gujarati on her Facebook page.

Anandiben said she has requested the party central leadership to relieve her of her present responsibilities.

She took over as the chief minister from Narendra Modi on May 23, 2014, when the latter became the prime minister. She cited the state government’s mega investment biennial summit Vibrant Gujarat to be held in January 2017 and the crucial state Assembly elections for her decision to offer to quit and be relieved immediately.

Her decision to quit set off speculation about her successor. Among the names doing the rounds were BJP state president Vijay Rupani; state minister Nitin Patel (who is a Patel strongman from Mehsana in North Gujarat), Union Minister of State for Agriculture Purushottam Rupala (a Patel leader from Saurashtra), Bhikhu Dalsaniya (another Patel strongman from Saurashtra) and former state BJP president R C Faldu.

However, Rupani is seen as the frontrunner in the race for now. “He is close to (BJP national president) Amit Shah and also has the ear of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” a senior BJP leader said.

“Moreover, if Rupala or Dalsaniya are chosen, we will need to have early polls as both of them are not legislators. Nitin Patel, on the other hand, has lost his face due to the Patel agitation that has the strongest roots in his district and replacing Anandiben with him would serve no purpose. Faldu, like Dalsaniya, remains at the most a dark horse,” the leader added.

He said, “But in the end I feel we may just be speculating as Narendrabhai would have already taken his decision and without his knowledge, Anandiben would not have made her letter public. So, we in Gujarat can just wait for the final word from New Delhi.”

“She has sent her resignation to party president Amit Shah and a final call would be taken by the central leadership,” Rupani, told mediapersons.

In Delhi, Shah said the party’s central parliamentary board would take a call on her successor. The board would meet on Wednesday morning.

Rupani said, “Nobody has pressured her. She has herself sought to be relieved. She has taken her decision and that is why she has shared it on social media addressing the people of the state... We are proud of her work as the chief minister.”

Anandiben, who has been facing flak from various quarters, including within the party, about the way she handled the Patel quota stir and Dalit agitation, which is believed to have eroded the BJP’s vote base in the state.

Both the Patels and Dalits, accounting for 17% and 7% of voters in the state, respectively, have been a strong vote bank of the BJP for over two decades now.

While the Patel anger has shaken the roots of the party within the state, the Dalit agitation has been creating ripples in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. With elections due in these two states and Dalits accounting for 21% and 26% of the electorate in UP and Punjab, the BJP was facing a serious threat.