Ahmedabad (Gujarat): As the Gujarat elections are due in December 2022, a special meeting was held in Gandhinagar about the chief ministerial candidate. The meeting was attended by Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Ganpat Vasava, Saurabh Patel and Pradipsinh Jadeja. Yamal Vyas, BJP spokesperson told ETV Bharat that "Addressing a press conference after the state executive meeting, BJP state president C.R. Patil said that 2022 Gujarat Assembly elections will be fought under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel will be the faces of the BJP. In other words, the face of the BJP Chief Minister in the Gujarat Assembly in 2022 will be Vijay Rupani.
Vijay Ramaniklal Rupani was sworn in as the 16th Chief Minister on August 7, 2016. His five-year term is coming to an end on August 7. Rupani has worked hard for the development, and the growth accelerated under his leadership in the state. Even during the pandemic, Rupani worked tirelessly ensuring people get all the facilities and cases are contained well.
Rupani was born in Rangoon, Burma, but grew up in Rajkot. He entered politics at the young age of 24 and joined the BJP. In 1976, he was imprisoned for one year. Rupani is the third chief minister to complete a 5-year term after Madhav Singh Solanki, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ever since Vijay Rupani took the helm of Gujarat, he has followed the path of development that PM Modi has taken. 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas' is the motto he has brought to the life of Gujarati's. Rupani has had the most challenging times during Covid. He has been a clean image and has not been in any way controversial in his five-year tenure.
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Political expert Hari Desai told ETV Bharat, "With the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled in December 2022, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party are now claiming that this time the BJP will be thrown out. But people will vote for Rupani government once again. He has done a lot of developmental works -- be it infrastructure or networking of villages. It seems to me that Rupani's government will be formed in Gandhinagar."
Desai went on to add: "Congress is scattered, there are quarrels within. If the Aam Aadmi Party wins a few candidates in Surat, they will make a lot of noise. But winning the assembly elections will be difficult for them. CM Rupani will benefit from the popularity of PM Narendra Modi. His new ideas and new development works will be accepted by the people, so I think Rupani will have no problem in gaining power."
But then Rupani will have to change the strategy for the 2022 election. However, the opposition differs on this. Amit Chavda, state Congress president told ETV Bharat, "Acting as the CM of the government in the face of recession, inflation and epidemic, Vijay Rupani has given nothing but harassment to the people in five years. In Gujarat, everything including education, health, infrastructure has been ruined." Only time will tell if Rupani will be accepted by the people or not.
