Vijay Rupani resigns as Gujarat Chief Minister; thanks PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah for opportunity to serve as CM

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has resigned from the post today. He submitted his resignation to Governor Acharya Devvrat at Raj Bhavan. Speaking to the media after his resignation, Rupani thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for giving him the opportunity to serve as the chief minister of Gujarat. Vijay Rupani’s resignation came hours after he attended the ground breaking ceremony of an educational complex of the Patidar community in Gandhinagar. The BJP has asked all party MLAs to reach Gandhi Nagar by 11 am tomorrow. The name of a new CM is likely to be announced tomorrow.

“I want to thank BJP for giving me this opportunity to serve as Gujarat’s CM. During my tenure, I got the opportunity to add to the development of the state under PM Modi’s leadership,” said Rupani to the media.

Rupani said that he is ready to take any responsibility given by the party leadership. Reacting to the reasons behind his resignation, Rupani said that change of guard is a natural phenomenon in the saffron party. Rupani added that he will continue to work under the leadership of BJP chief JP Nadda.

The outgoing CM also said that PM Modi has been the face of the BJP and the party will fight next year’s Gujarat Assembly elections under his leadership.

According to reports, Union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya, Parshottam Rupala, state minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, MoS Pradipsinh Jadeja, Gujarat BJP incharge Bhupendra Yadav and other party leaders were present when Rupani submitted his resignation to the governor.

While the name of the new chief minister has not been announced yet, names of CR Patil, Nitin Patel, Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala are doing rounds for the state’s top post.

Notably, Rupani had completed five years as Gujarat chief minister on August 7 this year. Rupani first became CM in 2016 when he replaced Anandiben Patel. Rupani (65) was sworn in as chief minister for his second stint as CM – in December 2017. Elections are scheduled in December 2022 to elect 182 members of the Gujarat Assembly.

Rupani’s resignations comes ahead of Gujarat Assembly Elections due next year. The BJP had performed well in the recently held municipal elections in the state.

With his resignation, Vijay Rupani has become the fourth BJP chief minister in the country to resign from the post. Earlier, BS Yediyurappa had resigned as Karnataka CM, and Tirath Singh Rawat as well as Trivendra Singh Rawat as Uttarakhand CM within a span of four months.