The >BJP parliamentary board on Wednesday authorised party president Amit Shah to pick the successor to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who >submitted her resignation to Governor O.P. Kohli in the evening.
Accompanied by party leaders and ministers, Ms. Patel handed over her resignation to the Governor after the parliamentary board accepted her offer to quit. Mr. Kohli asked her to continue as the caretaker Chief Minister until a new leader is appointed. The parliamentary board, chaired by Mr. Shah, and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also decided to appoint Union Roads and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and party general secretary Saroj Pandey as observers to ascertain the views of MLAs.
A meeting of the legislature party will be held in Ahmedabad on Friday, which will be attended by Mr. Shah. Sources said he would attend the meeting not only in his capacity as the party chief but also as an MLA from the State. Mr. Shah was elected from the Naranpura Assembly constituency.
Mr. Shah will arrive in Ahmedabad on Thursday morning and will meet top leaders and ministers to discuss the likely successor. On Friday, the legislature party will meet to elect a new leader, who will then set the ball rolling to be sworn in as the next CM. “The national party president is coming on Thursday and he will meet leaders and party MLAs. The legislature party meeting will be held on Friday,” said Dinesh Sharma, BJP vice-president, who is in charge of Gujarat.
‘Focus on organisation’ Mr. Sharma and party organising secretary V. Satish held meetings with leaders, including State party president and cabinet Minister Vijay Rupani, whose is considered among the contenders but who ruled himself out saying he would like to “focus on organisation.”
Meanwhile in Mehsana, supporters of Health Minister Nitin Patel burst crackers after the local media reported that “[Nitin] Patel is likely to be consensus candidate” to replace Ms. Patel.
