SHAH CONFIDANT RUPANI IS RSS’ CHOICE

Rupani enjoys cordial relations with all prominent leaders of the state. He shares a good rapport with BJP workers too.

Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah would have been the new Gujarat Chief Minister had it not been for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which opted for his protégé Vijay Rupani instead. In the RSS view, it was not possible to send Shah to the state as he has been helping the Bharaitya Janata Party prepare for the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Goa early next year. The Gujarat elections would be towards the end of 2017 and if any need is felt to send Shah there, a review of Friday’s decision could be taken at an appropriate time.

Sources said that Shah was the preferred choice of the party workers in the state, as he is seen as a worthy successor to Narendra Modi in Gujarat. He knows all the regions extremely well and has a very wide acceptability. He is also considered to be the only man who can help steer the party to victory in the Assembly elections due to both his proximity to the Prime Minister as well as his extensive understanding of the ground situation. Initially, Shah himself was inclined to go back to his home turf, but Modi and the RSS thought that his utility in the national capital was more at this point of time.

The outgoing Chief Minister, Anandiben Patel was keen that a nominee from her community should succeed her, given the gravity of the Patidar agitation, which is seeking to alienate the powerful Patels from the BJP. She was batting for Nitin Patel, the senior most minister in her Cabinet who belongs to Mehsana in North Gujarat, which is the epicentre of the Patidar uprising. However, the RSS and Modi had made up their mind that they would not wilt under any pressure and gave Shah and Nitin Gadkari (who was an observer) the go ahead to choose the