Vaghani supercedes veterans; some upset

GANDHINAGAR: Jitendra (Jitu) Savjibhai Vaghani, 46, has been appointed as the Gujarat BJP president. Vaghani, the Bhavnagar West MLA, succeeds Vijay Rupani who took over as the chief minister on Sunday. Vaghani is known to be a loyalist of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and national BJP president Amit Shah. "This is a big responsibly for me," Vaghani said after his appointment."I will fulfill my responsibility to make the party win the 2017 election."
Vaghani, a former Yuva Morcha president, is not well known outside Bhavnagar district. He was not among the contenders when Rupani relinquished the presidency of the party's state unit. But from Tuesday, the buzz in the state BJP suggested that Vaghani had suddenly been pushed into the fray. On Wednesday morning, his formal appointment to the post was announced through a letter signed by Shah's office. The decision surprised many and upset some in the state BJP because Vaghani supersedes several senior figures.
Vaghani, a Leuva Patel leader, is known as an aggressive, albeit unpolished, orator. He, however, has Modi's confidence. In fact, Modi specially chose him in 2003 to be the state BJP Yuva Morcha president. In 2007, Vaghani was given a ticket to contest the assembly election from the Bhavnagar South constituency. He lost to Shaktisinh Gohil of the Congress.
In 2012, Vaghani won the Bhavnagar West seat with a record margin of 53,892 votes. He was till recently in charge of the BJP's affairs in Rajkot city and district. Earlier, he was in charge of Bhavnagar and Amreli districts. Vaghani has strong Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) roots; he has been connected with shakhas since his school days. During college years, he worked actively with the ABVP. He was later appointed as a senate member of the Bhavnagar University. He is a law graduate and has interests in land and construction businesses.
Many in the the BJP's higher echelons believe that Vaghani will not have much autonomy at his disposal.