Gujarat CM Anandiben Patel resigns, cites age

BJP parliamentary board to take a call on successor today

In the midst of growing dalit and Patidar protests in the Prime Minister’s home state, Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel on Monday offered to resign from her post, saying it was time for new leadership to take over since she would soon be turning 75.

Ms Patel had written a letter to party president Amit Shah in the morning, and later posted her resignation letter on Facebook, requesting the party leadership to relieve her of the post.

In New Delhi, BJP president Amit Shah said, “Anandiben Patel has offered to resign. I will place her letter before the (BJP) parliamentary board which will take the final decision.” Asked about her replacement, Mr Shah said the parliamentary board will decide on the new chief minister.

The BJP’s highest decision-making body, parliamentary board, is expected to take a call on her resignation as well as her successor Tuesday.

Though sudden, for many the development was on expected lines as the BJP has been facing multiple challenges in Gujarat, a state it has been ruling since 1998. There was a growing feeling, both within the ruling party in the state as well as the state administration, that Ms Patel was loosing her grip over governance. Ever since the Patidar agitation rocked Gujarat last year, Mr Modi, who was Gujarat’s chief minister for 14 years, had been keeping a tab on the development in the state and there was speculation that Ms Patel would be replaced.

The BJP also fared badly in the rural civic bodies polls in December 2015 and the Opposition Congress has been making gains at the cost of the saffron rival post-Patidar agitation.

With Assembly elections in Gujarat scheduled for next year, sources disclosed that the BJP top brass had been pursuing the issue of replacing Ms Patel for the past six months as she turn 75 in November, the age bar set by the party.

Names of Vijay Rupani, the state unit president of the BJP, state cabinet ministers Nitin Patel and Saurabh Patel, and Purushottam Rupala, MoS in the Modi government, are doing the rounds as Ms Patel’s successor.

While political circles are abuzz that Ms Patel could be replaced by someone from her own community, keeping the Patidar (Patel) agitation in mind, sources said that Patels have been given ample representation in both the state as well as the Modi government.

“Patel agitation is not for representation but for reservation,” said a senior state leader, who also pointed that Mr Modi, who will have the final say in Ms Patel’s successor, is not known to succumb to pressure.

Mr Shah said Ms Patel, who has in the past offered to resign twice, wants her replacement to get adequate time to prepare for Vibrant Gujarat summit to be held in January 2017 and the Assembly polls later next year. Till few months back, Mr Shah’s name was doing the rounds as the next chief minister of Gujarat.

In her Facebook post on Monday, Ms Patel wrote: “For the last some time there has been a tradition in the party that those who attain the age of 75, voluntarily retires from the post. I will attain the age of 75 in November... Two months ago I had requested the party to relieve me from the post and today also through this letter, I request the party to relieve me of the post..I am asking the party to relieve me two months in advance as the new chief minister will require the time to work, when the state is going to face elections in 2017 and an important event like Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January.”

A minister in the BJP government since 1998, Ms Patel had succeeded Mr Modi as Gujarat’s chief minister on May 22, 2014.