Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah arrived here early this morning to oversee the process of finding a successor to Anandiben Patel, who has formally put in her papers as the Gujarat Chief Minister.
Though the BJP leadership reiterated in Delhi that Shah would not be the next CM since his services were needed for the crucial assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, speculation back home still did not rule him out.
“Venkaiah Naidu maintained this after the parliamentary board meeting in Delhi on Wednesday when he said the elected legislators in Gujarat will decide their leader on Friday with him only overseeing the meeting. If Shah succeeds Patel, it can be easily said later that he was the choice of the MLAs though the party needed him in Uttar Pradesh,” a senior leader said on terms of anonymity.
“Why otherwise are they delaying every decision by a day and leaving everything to the legislature party meeting all the way to Friday evening, which otherwise is generally a formality," the leader wondered.
He informed that Shah, MLA from Naranpura constituency, drove straight to his residence from the airport and was locked in a meeting with BJP Joint Secretary (organisation) V Satish and General Secretary in charge of Gujarat Dinesh Sharma.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and party General Secretary Saroj Pandey will also be present at the meeting tomorrow as central observers.
Patel, the first woman Chief Minister of Gujarat, resigned from the post keeping in mind the BJP's tradition of leaders vacating their post as they turn 75.
