Bhupendra Patel to be sworn-in as Gujarat chief minister on Monday

Ahmedabad, Sep 12: Ghatlodia MLA Bhupendra Patel will sown in as Gujarat chief minister at 2.20 pm on Monday, replacing Vijay Rupani. He was unanimously elected BJP legislature party leader.

Patel met Governor Acharya Devvrat on Sunday evening and staked claim to form the next government in the state after the sudden resignation of Vijay Rupani from the top post.

He was accompanied by the central and state leaders, including Rupani, observers sent by the central BJP, Union ministers Narendrasinh Tomar and Prahlad Joshi, state BJP in-charge Bhupendra Yadav, state BJP president C R Paatil, among others.

Patel won the 2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections from Ghatlodia constituency, defeating Congress candidate Shashikant Patel by over one lakh votes, the highest winning margin in the 2017 Gujarat polls. He holds a diploma in civil engineering and is considered close to former CM Anandiben Patel, who won from the seat in 2012 polls.

Bhupendra Patel's name was not in the long list of probables being discussed in state political circles and in a way the first term MLA emerged as the dark horse, a political observer said.

He belongs to the influential Patel community.

Rupani (65) on Saturday resigned from the post, his sudden announcement coming over a year before the state goes to polls. It is not clear what prompted the development in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state where elections to the 182-member Assembly are due in December 2022.

Rupani, the fourth chief minister to demit office in BJP-ruled states during the coronavirus pandemic, was sworn in as chief minister - his second stint as CM - in December 2017. Rupani, who completed five years in office on August 7 this year, first became the chief minister on August 7, 2016, following the resignation of incumbent Anandiben Patel, and continued in the office after the BJP's victory in the 2017 Assembly elections.