Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s old trusted aide from Surat and Member of Parliament from Navsari Lok Sabha constituency, Chandrakant Raghunath Patil, has been appointed the Gujarat BJP’s new president replacing Jitu Vaghani, whose term came to an end.
Another BJP MP who had hogged limelight with his energetic speech in the Lok Sabha in support of Ladakh as a separate Union Territory, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, was appointed as the party president of Ladakh.
This is the first time that someone with non-Gujarati origin and a migrant has been appointed as the Gujarat BJP president. The surprise appointment announcement was made here by BJP president J P Nadda who had on Sunday also appointed O P Dhankar, a jat and state Minister, as Haryana State president.
Patil, a former constable-turned politician, has a record of winning with the highest margins and is one of the richest MPs too. For the last two terms, Patil won from his seat by more than five lakh votes.
Patil has also been Modi’s choice to coordinate development works in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
Namgyal, 35, is a first-term MP from Ladakh. The post of BJP president in the Union Territory was vacant after Namgyal’s predecessor resigned.