Changing Gujarat CM now would make no sense -Governance Now

Changing Gujarat CM now would make no sense

Vijay Rupani-Nitin Patel team to continue in the new term

GN Bureau | December 22, 2017

#Narendra Modi #BJP #Politics #Elections #Gujarat #Vijay Rupani

Speculation is over, as senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley announced in Gandhinagar Friday that Vijay Rupani will continue as chief minister of Gujarat, along with Nitin Patel as his deputy. The speculation was needless: it made little sense for the party to change the leader at this stage.

With the December 19 verdict of the Gujarat assembly elections showing a scary dip in the BJP’s popularity with only 99 seats in its bag, there were unconfirmed reports that the party would name a new CM. The possible candidates for the post also started doing rounds, with the electronic media on Friday naming Vajubhai Vala (long-time state finance minister, former assembly speaker and now Karnataka governor), Mansukhbhai Mandviya (minister of state in the centre), Jeetu Vaghani (state party president), Nitin Patel (outgoing deputy CM) and others as possible contenders.

Logically speaking, Rupani was brought in only last year, in August, to counter a negative perception about Anandiben Patel, and there is no justification to remove him now that the elections are over. On the whole, popular perception about Rupani is not negative, even if he can’t match up to the role of Narendra Modi who was Gujarat CM for 13 years. His governance record is ok enough. Caste calculations – to bring in a Patel face at the top – do not apply any more now that vote is over.

Bringing in a new face makes sense to counter anti-incumbency. That was the logic to bring in Rupani a year ahead of elections, and also Modi himself a year before the 2002 elections, when Keshubhai Patel’s popularity was going down. That is not needed at this stage – though it may be very much needed ahead of the next elections in 2022.

Comments

Other News

Before India voted, the framers worried about the referee

“We are making a Constitution forever and not only for today.” Shibban Lal Saksena said this in the Constituent Assembly on June 15, 1949. He was warning that a ruling party might one day choose a loyalist to run India’s elections. Seventy-seven years later, the Supreme Court is wrestli

Delhi moves to real-time traffic management

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi, has approved implementation of the ITMS Project by Delhi Police at an estimated cost of Rs.1,789.52 crore, inclusive of taxes. The project will cover 42 identified traffic corridors and will be implemented in three

MDR on UPI: Can sustainability come without weakening the network?

The extraordinary transaction volumes and value (₹29.82 Lakh crore in August 2026 alone) of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have made it not only an Indian success story, but a global one. In 2024, UPI accounted for nearly 49% of the world’s real-time payment transaction volume, with more th

The Xi-Trump summit: The unending rivalry

Diplomacy is akin to an art, wherein the summitry, conflict resolution and negotiations form apt constituents of the entire context of deal making and “playing for keeps” in the international arena. The Xi-Trump summit in Washington last week, in which the American president broke all conside

“Indians, yet treated like outsiders”

Moving to Delhi-NCR for education can be an exciting experience for students from Northeast India. It gives us a chance to meet new people, experience a different culture and become more independent. But living away from home also comes with challenges that people who have not experienced them may not al

Import duty on major edible oils cut

The government has reduced the Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on major imported crude edible oils with a view to moderating domestic edible oil prices, providing relief to consumers and mitigating inflationary pressures arising from the sharp increase in international edible oil prices.