- Bhupendra Patel will be the new chief minister of Gujarat, BJP legislators decided on Sunday at a meeting to pick the successor for Vijay Rupani, a day after the exit of Rupani and his Cabinet. He will take oath today afternoon.
- A surprise candidate: The 59-year-old, known to be a protege of former chief minister Anandiben Patel, is not only the first time chief minister of the state but also the first time minister. In the 2017 Gujarat Assembly polls, he had managed the highest winning margin, defeating Congress's Shashikant Patel by more than 117,000 votes from the Ghatlodiya constituency.
- Also: He holds a diploma in civil engineering and has held the positions of president of Memnagar municipality in Ahmedabad, standing committee chairman of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority.
- That said: With a year left before the state goes to the polls, it's the BJP's usual process of pre-poll shakeup taking feedback from the grassroots level. (Rupani's the fourth CM to be replaced in the BJP ruled states so far this year.)
- And Patel belongs to the Patel or Patidar community, one of the politically crucial groups in the state, which the BJP was reportedly keen to appease ahead of next year's Assembly elections. Their demand was to pick a member of the community for the top spot.
- The other contenders: Per BJP sources, Patel was not listed among the main contenders. Ahead of Sunday's meeting the names of two Union Ministers from Gujarat — Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala — the controversial Lakshadweep administrator Praful Khoda Patel, state agriculture minister RC Faldu and Gujarat's deputy CM Nitin Patel were doing the rounds.
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