Anandiben Patel will become Gujarat’s first woman Chief Minister on Thursday replacing Narendra Modi. 73-year-old Anandiben is the Revenue and Urban Development Minister in the Modi Cabinet.
In a meeting of BJP MlAs, Anandiben was unanimously elected BJP legislature Party leader. The meeting was conducted after Modi submitted his resignation as the Chief Minister to Governor of Gujarat, Kamala Beniwal on Wednesday afternoon.Anandiben’s swearing-in ceremony will held at Mahatma Mandir at 12.39 pm on Thursday.Considered as Modi’s close aide, Anandiben is the longest serving BJP Minister in Gujarat. She was also Minister in the Keshubhai Patel Government.
Patel got emotional and had tears in eyes when she started reading a written speech in response to her election as leader of BJP legislature Party. Thanking the top leadership of BJP, especially Modi for putting trust in a ‘daughter of a farmer’, Patel said that she completed her education up to Master of Science, while working in farms and became a teacher.
“I realised the problems of farmers, issues related to education, children and women from my own experiences,” said the Chief Minister-designate. She gave credit to senior party leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, lK Advani and Modi for her development as organisational leader as well as giving conducive atmosphere in the party, not only to her but many other women to work independently.
In the 2012 Assembly elections, the BJP gave tickets to 20 women and of them 13 emerged as victorious, she said, adding that in 2014 lok Sabha elections the party put trust in four women candidates in Gujarat and all of them won from their respective constituencies.“Narendrabhai has established a system of ‘good governance’ since last 13 years. I also would like to walk on his path and would try to continue the development process initiated by him,” she said.
Comparing Modi with lord Krishna, she said that thousands of years back lord Krishna left banks of Yamuna River and came to Gujarat in Dwarka. “The same way visionary Narendrabhai is going to the banks of Yamuna and leaving banks of River Sabarmati in Gujarat,” she said.
Born in Kharod Village in North Gujarat, initially she was associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) through her husband Mafatbhai Patel. Anandiben joined the BJP in 1987 and went on to become the president of the party’s women wing. She also accompanied Murli Manohar Joshi during his Ekta Yatra in 1992 in Srinagar. She was also a Rajya Sabha member.
In 1998, Anandiben became MlA for the first time from Mandal constituency in Ahmedabad district and went on to become Minister for Education, Child and Women welfare in the Keshubhai Government.