File Picture Courtesy : The Indian Express
After having led his party to victory at the recent Assembly polls, Vijay Rupani will remain the chief minister of Gujarat. He was elected the leader of the BJP legislature party in the state, union Finance minister Arun Jaitley, in the state as an observer said. The elected MLAs of Gujarat BJP named Vijay Rupani and Nitin Patel as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively. The decision was taken after Jaitley’s meeting with all BJP MLAs. Rupani is said to be close to BJP chief Amit Shah.
The announcement of Rupani as CM ends the media speculation that might be replaced by Union I&B and Textiles minister Smriti Irani.
“Vijay Rupani was chosen as Legislature party leader unanimously, Nitin Bhai Patel as the deputy Legislature party leader in a meeting today. Will inform you all about the swearing in, soon,” said Jaitley in a press conference in Gandhinagar.
Talking about the selection process, Jaitley said, “The process of electing is that we set process into motion as Central Observers, call upon elected MLAs to propose a name. Bhupendra Singh proposed these two names for the leader and Deputy leader, it was supported by 5 other MLAs who came to the dais and supported them.”
“This was then put to the house which they unanimously accepted. I also asked the members if anybody had any alternative proposal, and since there was none, the two were declared as unanimously elected,” Jaitley added.
