Considered as a man of party-line and close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vijay Ramaniklal Rupani is all set to take charge as the 10th Gujarat BJP president.
60-year-old Rupani, who is currently Cabinet Minister in Anandiben Patel ministry, will assume office on Friday at 12.39 pm (Vijay Muhurt) in presence of central observer Arjun Meghwal and Gujarat BJP in-charge Dinesh Sharma.
In August 2014, when Vajubhai Vala, the incumbent speaker of Gujarat legislative Assembly, resigned as the MlA from Rajkot West assembly constituency due to his appointment as Karnataka Governor, Rupani was nominated by the saffron party to contest his vacant seat. Rupani won the by-poll on October 19, 2014 with thumping majority. Within few days he was inducted in the Anandiben Patel cabinet as Minister of transport, water supply, labour & employment.
Announcement on the replacement for the incumbent RC Faldu was to be made on January 20. However, it was not done due to alleged differences between factions of national BJP president Amit Shah and Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel. Both Patel and Shah are close to PM Modi but considered as rivals.
The party high command considered few names for the important post in wake of the upcoming Assembly elections in the State in the year 2017. Names of other ministers including Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Pradipsinh Jadeja and Shanker Chaudhary were making rounds for the post. Finally former Rajya Sabha MP Rupani’s name was considered for the post.
During the 13 years long rule of Modi, role of State BJP president was limited as Modi was able to establish direct connect with the voters. But post Modi era, the party was looking for a person having strong organizational skill. Rupani as Saurashtra-Kutch in-charge of the party did extraordinary work during 2007 and 2012 Assembly elections. Chudasama and Jadeja are Kshatriyas and both are from Ahmedabad district while Rupani, a Bania, is from the Saurashtra region where the party faced a severe drubbing in the last local body elections.
According to official sources the exercise of naming the new president would be concluded in one and a half hours. The filing of nomination will be held between 11 am and 12 noon, while the scrutiny will be over by 12.30 pm. The election would only be a formality and there are dim chances of a second nomination being filed, said a senior party leader.
Meanwhile, a day ahead of his election as the new Gujarat BJP president, Rupani on Thursday visited the residence of former Gujarat Chief Minister and the first Gujarat BJP Chief Keshubhai Patel to seek his blessings. Veteran politician Keshubhai responded warmly and welcomed Rupani by offering him sweets. It was Keshubhai Patel who played crucial role in 1980s to mobilise Patidar votes in favour of BJP.