Gujarat: In an unexpected political development, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani submitted his resignation to Governor Acharya Devvrat on Saturday at Raj Bhavan. After submitting his resignation, speaking to the reporters, Rupani said, “I have resigned after conveying my wishes to the party leadership to let me work in the organization. During my tenure, I got the opportunity to work for the development of the state under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.” Rupani said that he is ready for whatever new role the party assigns to him without specifying the reason for this sudden move, merely months ahead of the highly-anticipated assembly polls in Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s home state.
The party is likely to announce his replacement by evening as the BJP general secretary B. L. Santosh is understood to have been holding meetings at the State party headquarters. Sources said Mansukh Mandaviya, who was just sworn in as the Union Health Minister in July, and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel are possible replacements.
Rupani (65) was sworn in as chief minister- for the second time in December 2017. The Gujarat CM becomes the fourth serving CM to have left the office in any BJP-ruled state. In July, BS Yediyurappa had also resigned as Karnataka CM and Tirath Singh Rawat stepped down as chief minister of Uttarakhand recently before Trivendra Singh Rawat.