Why Bhupendra Patel remains BJP's ideal choice

Patel has been associated with RSS since his youth. His being a Patidar too weighed heavily in his favour. Moreover, he is educated and has a clean image. The massive victory under his leadership finally made him the natural choice.

New Delhi, Dec 12: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will be repeating Bhupendra Patel as the Chief Minister of Gujarat as he is going to take oath for a straight second term in Gandhinagar on Monday after the saffron party's resounding victory in the recently concluded Assembly polls.

So, what makes Patel, a Patidar leader who replaced Vijay Rupani last year, as a near-ideal choice for the BJP? Going by the reports, it is the trust the party leadership reposes on him in driving the party's agenda in the State without trying to exert his own authority. He is believed to be the choice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Let us dissect as to what led the party to stick to him.

RSS man & educated: Patel's association with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP, goes back to his youth days. He completed a Diploma in Civil Engineering from the Government Polytechnic, Ahmedabad, in April 1982. He is a trustee of Sardardham Vishwa Patidar Kendra and the chairman of the standing committee of Vishwa Umiya Foundation. Patel is a follower of Akram Vignan Movement, a religious movement which drew inspiration from Jainism, founded by Dada Bhagwan. He joined mainstream politics in the 1990s and was active in civic politics for a long time before contesting in the Assembly elections in 2017.

Massive victory: The party under Patel's leadership won 156 seats of the total 182 seats which earned him the straight second term as Chief Minister. He himself won the Ghatlodia seat with the highest margin of 1.92 lakh votes. "I had said while campaigning that this time Bhupendra will break Narendra Modi's record (of 127 seats in 2002)," PM Modi said after the Gujarat election results were declared. In the 2017 Assembly elections, when Anandiben Patel was appointed as Governor, she had recommended his name to fight from the Ghatlodiya seat which she had held before. Bhupendra Patel had defeated Congress candidate Shashikant Patel by over 1 lakh votes.

Low-profile, clean record: A low-profile leader and the first from the Kadva Patidar sub-group to become the CM, Patel is known to be a trouble-shooter and strategy-builder in the saffron party. He has his unique way of connecting with the people that he can take everyone along. Patel is also lauded for his unblemished image as he never had any criminal case against him since his debut in politics. He has a construction business and until he became an MLA in 2017, he used to operate from his site office only.

Patidar factor: By appointing Anandiben Patel's protege Bhupendra again for the top job, the BJP leadership seems to be correcting its 2016 mistake of ignoring the dominant Patidar community for the chair. The Patidar caste, which constitutes the saffron party's core vote bank, was seen as drifting away from it in recent years. This time, the saffron party performed extremely well in Patidar-dominated seats in the State. Earlier also, the party has given the Patel community four Chief Ministers - Anandiben, Keshubhai, Babubhai and Chimanbhai, Bhupendra being the fifth one.