Twentysix months after stepping into the shoes of her mentor Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s first woman Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, on Monday, “offered” to quit.
In a day of dramatic developments, Anandiben, in a letter to the party leadership, “offered” to step down from the post and relieved of responsibilities, a move seen as a prelude to park her in a Raj Bhavan. Anandiben will turn 75 on November 21, 2016. She also called on Governor OP Kohli late in the afternoon. She also addressed the people in a TV broadcast about her decision.
In New Delhi, party chief Amit Shah said the CM’s “offer” would be deliberated upon by the BJP Parliamentary Board and a final decision on her successor would be taken. In Gandhinagar, State BJP President Vijay Rupani said it was the CM’s ‘personal’ decision.
Among her probable successors, whose names have been in circulation for a while, are BJP President Amit Shah a sitting BJP MLA from Naranpura constituency in Ahmedabad), the low-profile Gujarat BJP’s Organizing Secretary Bhikhubhai Dalsania, and Health Minister Nitin Patel, who is the number two in the Anandiben Government.
In a letter to the party leadership, which she also shared on social media, she narrated the steps her government took for welfare of the people and development of the state since she became the CM on May 23, 2014.
“Two months ago (in June) I had requested the party leadership to relieve me of the responsibilities. With this letter, I have urged it again to relieve me of Chief Ministership.”
She said the party has established a tradition wherein senior BJP workers turning 75 years of age “volunteered to retire from responsibilities”. This would provide opportunity to the younger leaders to shoulder responsibilities. “I am also going to turn 75 in November. But I want to retire two months earlier so as to give time to my successor to prepare for the next Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January 2017 and the Vidhan Sabha elections later next year.”
Ironically, Anandiben, once seen as a no-nonsense minister and effective administrator, during her 30-year-long political career, was accused of being a “weak” CM. To be fair, she lifted the many ‘barricades’ put up by Modi, and tried to be as close to the people and party workers as she could. But these very moves were seen as her “weaknesses”. Throughout the last one year, speculations were rife about the ‘elevation’ of Anandiben to the august Margdarshak Mandal, the BJP’s retirement home having senior leaders like LK Advani, MM Joshi and Yeshwant Sinha as occupants.
The year-old Patidar Andolan, launched by her own Patel community seeking reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, and the recent Dalit agitation against atrocities by caste Hindus, politically weakened her further. Her moves to provide a 10% reservation to economically-weaker upper castes cut little ice with the Patels who, after the recent release of Hardik Patel on bail from a jail, became vociferous again.
In particular, the Dalit Mahasammelan, organized in Ahmedabad on July 31 to protest against the July 11 incident of Una, wherein the community announced to shun their traditional skinning occupation and demanded licensed arms to protect themselves, may have proved to be the last straw.
The Patels and the Dalits have been seen as major ‘vote banks’ of the BJP since 1995 when it first tasted power in Gujarat independently. These communities’ recent agitations made the ruling BJP jittery in what it always boasted was its “laboratory” (Gujarat).
The successor of Anandiben would, clearly, have to shoulder the onerous responsibility of returning the BJP to power in 2017—or face the music of “BJP-mukt Gujarat”!
A well-educated and decorated teacher, Anandiben shot to fame when, in the late 1980s, she saved the life of two girls from drowning. She later joined the BJP under the wings of Modi and rose to become minister in the BJP governments thereafter.
જય જય ગરવી ગુજરાત pic.twitter.com/S3FAjyCKpy
— Anandiben Patel (@anandibenpatel) August 1, 2016