Gandhinagar: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani tendered his resignation on Saturday. He submitted his resignation to Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat at the Raj Bhavan.
Rupani after his resignation reportedly said that it was a great honour for him to be the Gujarat Chief Minister for five years.
"The responsibilities in the party must keep changing with time. This is a natural process in the party. I got the responsibility of being the Chief Minister for five years, it was a great opportunity," he said.
Rupani was sworn in as the chief minister on August 7, 2016.
He retained the Rajkot West constituency defeating the Congress candidate Indranil Rajyaguru in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections.
Rupani was unanimously elected as the leader of the legislature party on December 22, 2017, and continued as the chief minister with Nitin Patel as his deputy.
According to sources, the names of Mansukh Mandaviya, Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala, C.R. Patil and Nitin Patel are doing the rounds for the chief minister’s post.
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The script for the change of Vijay Rupani was written in December last year. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had given a report against Vijay Rupani, after which it was decided that the party would change the Chief Minister. Rupani was then told that after the completion of five years, the party will announce a new Chief Minister in the state.
On August 7, Rupani completed five years as the Gujarat Chief Minister after which a BJP leader had told ABP News about his early resignation. However, constant talks continued at party high-command and for once it seemed that Rupani would be able to hold his position.
The BJP central leadership reportedly sent BJP general secretary to Gandhinagar earlier this week who later decided the time and date of Rupani's resignation.
(With inputs from Vikas Bhadauria)