First-time MLA, Bhupendra Patel was on Sunday chosen as the new leader of the BJP Legislative Party will take oath as the new chief minister of Gujarat on Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party's chief CR Patil said today.
"Gujarat Chief Minister-elect Bhupendra Patel will take oath tomorrow. No one else will take oath along with him as name of Deputy Chief Minister is not decided yet," said Patil
However, Union Minister and BJP leader Bhupender Yadav informed that Patel, along with the BJP delegation will meet Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat this evening to stake his claim as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat.
"We will be going to the Raj Bhavan at 6 pm. We will be meeting the governor regarding the appointment of the new Gujarat CM," said Yadav after the party elected Patel as the new Chief Minister.
Union Minister and BJP's in-charge for Gujarat Prahlad Joshi, who was present during the legislative party meeting, said Bhupendra Patel's name was "unanimously elected by the party MLAs".
"There has been a unanimous selection (of Bhupendra Patel's name as new Chief Minister), a very good decision," said Joshi.
This comes a day after Vijay Rupani submitted his resignation as Gujarat chief minister.
Patel is an MLA from the Ghatlodia seat, which was previously held by Anandiben Patel, who is currently serving as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, with an additional charge of Madhya Pradesh.
Patel a first-time MLA had won his seat by a margin of 117,000 votes in 2017, the largest margin in that poll defeating Congress candidate Shashikant Patel.
He has served as chairman of the Standing Committee of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and had also chaired the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). Patel has also served as municipal councillor in Ahmedabad.
With Assembly polls in the state scheduled to take place in 2022, BJP went with Patel, a Patidar face for the Chief Minister.
In Gujarat, the Patidars are a dominant caste with a sizeable control over the electoral votes. The community also dominates the political economy with a stronghold over education, realty and cooperative sectors.
Rupani took charge as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on August 7, 2016. He currently represents Gujarat's Rajkot West as MLA. In the 2017 state election, the BJP won 99 of the state's 182 Assembly seats, Congress got 77 seats.
( With inputs from ANI )
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