The BJP named Vijay Rupani as Gujarat’s new chief minister and Nitin Patel his deputy on Friday, entrusting two of its most powerful state leaders the responsibility of reviving the party’s popularity among voters.
Rupani has his job cut out. He has to placate angry Patel and Dalit communities, battle two decades of anti-incumbency and repair ties between the government and the party. And all this before the state elections that are due by December, 2017.
In choosing Rupani over Patel, who was seen as a front-runner for the top job till Thursday, the BJP hopes that his non-dominant Jain background would help neutralise caste equations in a state where the Patel and Dalit communities are crucial vote banks.
Rupani, 61, hails from Rajkot, the heartland of Saurashtra which has a significant population of both Patels and Dalits.
On the other hand, Nitin Patel enjoys significant clout in north Gujarat, which was the epicenter of last year’s violent protests by the Patidar or Patels demanding quotas for the community in colleges and jobs. His appointment could help woo back the Patels, the BJP’s traditional backers who had begun drifting away.
“The responsibility I have been handed is great and we are thankful for this,” Rupani said after being named the chief minister. “(I) will put in all the efforts to make Gujarat the role model of India.”
Union minister Nitin Gadkari announced the appointments after chief minister Anandiben Patel resigned earlier in the week. Friday’s meeting to choose her successor was attended by party MLAs as well as Shah. Rupani, seen as close to BJP president Amit Shah, was the state transport and water supply minister and Patel the health minister.
