New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janta Party has sent two Union ministers Pralhad Joshi and Narendra Singh Tomar to Gujarat as the party's central observers to the meeting of the state legislatures which will be held in the afternoon today to decide who will be the next Chief Minister of Gujarat.
In an unexpected political development, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Saturday submitted his resignation to Governor Acharya Devvrat at Raj Bhavan. After submitting his resignation, Rupani told reporters that he is thankful to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership who gave him an opportunity to serve as CM of the state.
Ruppani ducked the questions of sudden resignation, saying he served as the Chief Minister for five years, which is a long time. He further said that this is normal in BJP. Rupani said he will continue his work under the leadership of the BJP national president adding that people continued to have faith in the BJP during the last five years.
With his resignation, Rupani is the fourth Chief Minister in a BJP ruled state to be replaced in the last six months. Earlier, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat in Uttarakhand and BS Yediyurappa in Karnataka were replaced from the CM posts.
Rupani (65) was sworn in as chief minister in December 2017.
Many names are doing rounds for the new Chief Minister of Gujarat, but according to ABP sources, the 4 top contenders for the CM post are:
- Newly-appointed Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
- Parshottam Rupala, a Rajya Sabha MP whose term is due to end in 4 months is a well-known face in the Patidar community.
- Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat Nitin Ratilal Patel
- Lok Sabha MP from Navsari and Gujarat BJP Chief Chandrakant Raghunath Patil