Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar reaches Gujarat to discuss probable names for CM's post

New Delhi: Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar on Sunday reached Ahmedabad as Bharatiya Janata Party`s (BJP) central observer to choose the next Chief Minister of Gujarat after Vijay Rupani's sudden resignation. Tomar was accompanied by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National General Secretary Tarun Chugh. While, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi is likely to join later. 

"We have come in Ahmedabad to hold further discussions to pick the name of next chief minister of Gujarat. We will hold discussions with the state President and other senior leaders," Tomar told reporters. After Rupani's shock resignation, senior Gujarat BJP leaders met at the party office in Gandhinagar yesterday. The MLAs have been asked to reach the state capital by Saturday night to decide Rupani's successor. 

The central leaders hurried to the state after Rupani met Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat on Saturday and submitted his resignation as Chief Minister. 

Today, the BJP is likely to hold its legislative party meet to pick a new CM from the probables list which includes names of deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, BJP vice president Gordhan Zadafia and Dadra and Nagar Haveli Administrator Praful Khoda Patel.

Rupani (65) took charge as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on August 7, 2016. He currently represents Gujarat`s Rajkot West as MLA. In the 2017 state election, the BJP won 99 of the state`s 182 Assembly seats, Congress got 77 seats.

His resignation has come ahead of the elections to the 182-member Assembly which is scheduled for late next year.

With his resignation, Rupani became the fourth BJP’s chief minister to be replaced in the last six months. Earlier, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Tirath Singh Rawat in Uttarakhand and BS Yediyurappa in Karnataka were replaced from the CM posts.