It may be another coincidence that all the names of the first to replace Rupani are Patel leaders. These include outgoing MP CM Nitin Patel, Union ministers Mansukh Mandaviya and Parshottam Rupala, state agriculture minister RC Faldu, former MoS house Gordhan Zadafia and Lakshadweep UT Praful Patel administrator.
BJP state president CR Paatil, who is not Patidar, was also appointed to be in the fight, but sent a video message Saturday afternoon saying he was not aware.
Major sources said names for Patel, Faldu, Rupala and Mandaviya were being discussed. “But it is impossible to say who the prime minister will be as the decision will be made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” a party leader said. “Party leadership can always come as a surprise,” the leader added.
As in August 2016, when Anandiben Patel resigned as chief minister, it was rumored that Nitin Patel would succeed her, but in a last-minute decision, Rupani was chosen to take first place. The demand to act as Nitin Patel’s minister began to tend on social media immediately after Rupani’s resignation. There were many who believed that the party should reward Patel for his firm and loyal stage with the party in which he suffered the setback of being relegated to No. 2 after his candidacy was almost final in 2016.
For many months, there has been pressure on BJP’s leadership to appoint a Patidar CM. Given the state party leadership’s approach to winning more than 150 seats out of 182 seats in the assembly, the party is likely to agree as the agitation of Patidar’s quota has already passed and he wants the Patels to be the 13% of the state’s population trust vote bank: firmly by its side when the state will vote in 2022.
Union Health Minister Mandaviya, who like Patel belongs to the influential Patidar community, is also considered a leader. A man of few words, a 49-year-old native of the city of Palitana Temple in Bhavnagar, is trusted by both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Interior Minister Amit Shah. In Leuva Patel, Mandaviya is also a young and acceptable face for the community.
Former state BJP president and Union minister Parshottam Rupala comes from Saurashtra and has been one of the highest Patidar leaders in the state. Former MoS house Gordhan Zadafia had briefly left the BJP, but has returned and is now vice president of the state BJP. RC Faldu, another prominent leader of Patidar of Saurashtra, is a former president of the state party and current Minister of Agriculture. Praful Khoda Patel, former home of the MoS, is now administrator of the UTs of Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.