While the internet spent the entire day congratulating Nitin Patel for making the next chief minister of Gujarat, the Bharatiya Janta Party, or Amit Shah, particularly, surprised everyone by announcing non-controversial Vijay Rupani as the new leader of the western state.
The decision apparently came at a price, and wasn't easy to make. Reports suggest, the BJP office in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, saw high drama and heated arguments between Shah and Anandiben Patel. A source said, "Anandiben almost broke down saying the Patidar agitation was internally engineered to dislodge her. This provoked Mr Shah to retort he had no role to play but now he would decide on the next chief minister and he mentioner Mr Rupani's name." The source added, "Ms Patel insisted that as agreed earlier, the party should go by seniority and select Nitin Patel because Mr Rupani is a first-time MLA And lacks administrative experience. She even reportedly threatened to leave the meeting halfway but Mr Shah did not budge from his backing to Rupani."
Nitin Patel, who took the loss after a day of giving media interviews and distributing sweets, replied with a vague "God knows what happened," when asked why he didn't make the cut. In the press address by central observer Nitin Gadkari, he confirmed that Patel was Deputy Chief Minister, a first for the party. Shah maintained his absence in the brief and Patel refused to talk with the journalists present. Gadkari said, "We have unanimously elected Vijay Rupani and Nitin Patel as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively." He did not give any explanations on why Patel was overlooked at the last minute.
Rupani making the new CM hit the Patel community a tad too hard as it had rallied behind Nitin Patel. Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel said, "Nitin Patel should immediately resign from the party." Hopefully, the decision, which seems in the vested interest of Shah, does not affect the party's backing in the Patel community.
The new Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers will be sworn in on Sunday at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar.
