Union minister Arun Jaitley on Friday announced that incumbent Vijay Rupani has been elected the leader of the BJP legislature party in Gujarat, and will be the state's chief minister for a second term.
Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel will continue to be the second in command, after he was declared the deputy leader of the legislature party by Jaitley, the central observer appointed by the BJP leadership for the election.
The BJP had registered a sixth straight Assembly poll win in the key western state on December 18, winning 99 seats in the 182-member House.
Though the Congress performed its best in many years, winning 77 seats, it could not unseat the BJP.
Chief Minister Rupani and Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel had tendered their resignations to Governor OP Kohli after BJP’s Gujarat election victory.
The 13th Gujarat Assembly was formally dissolved by the Governor while accepting the resignations. Rupani was named as the acting Chief Minister.
Though speculation was doing rounds on who will be the next chief minister, mild-mannered Rupani seemed to be a front-runner and was likely to retain the job.
Sources in the BJP had said the party was likely to stick with Rupani.
BJP president Amit Shah had said during the campaign that the party was fighting the election under Rupani and Nitin Patel.
(With inputs from PTI)
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