Former Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel to retire from politics?

Anandiben Patel contested her first assembly election from Mandal assembly constituency in 1998.

Former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel has written a letter to BJP President Amit Shah requesting him to give new faces a chance in place of her in the upcoming 2017 Gujarat polls.

Patel, 75, wrote in her letter to BJP president Amit Shah that she would like to stay away because of the '75-year criterion' and that she would like to work in the role of a "margadarshak".

Anandiben Patel writes to BJP Pres Amit Shah, stating that in place of her new people must be given a chance to contest 2017 Gujarat polls. pic.twitter.com/TB7doOG12A

— ANI (@ANI) October 9, 2017

In 2016, she resigned as Chief Minister after she said in a Facebook post that she was old now and it was time for new leadership to take over.

During her tenure, Hardik Patel-led 'Patidar reservation movement' was a cause of worry to the BJP dispensation. Also, she faced a lot of criticism after four Dalit youths were beaten up in Una for allegedly skinning a dead cow.

She urged him to nominate a local BJP worker instead of her in Ghatlodiya, the constituency she has represented since 1998.

Anandiben Patel contested her first assembly election from Mandal assembly constituency in 1998. She contested her second and third assembly elections in 2002 and 2007 from Patan assembly constituency and was elected.

She won her fourth term from Ghatlodiya constituency in the 2012 elections. On 22 May 2014, Patel took oath as the 15th Chief Minister of Gujarat succeeding Narendra Modi, after the later was elected as Prime Minister of India following the victory of BJP in the Indian general election, 2014

She was the Cabinet Minister for Education from 2002 to 2007. She was the Cabinet Minister of Road and Building, Revenue, Urban Development and Urban Housing, Disaster Management and Capital Projects in the Government of Gujarat from 2007 to 2014.

OneIndia News