Who will be the next Gujarat CM? BJP leaders meet to decide

AHMEDABAD: The top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party will meet the newly elected MLAs in Gujarat on Friday to elect the next chief minister of the state. 

The entire process will be held at 3:30 pm in Gandhinagar on Friday under the supervision of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and BJP general secretary Saroj Pandey who have been appointed as observers by the central leadership. 

State BJP in-charge Bhupender Yadav and co-incharge V Satish would also attend the meeting at party headquarters 'Kamalam'. 

Speculation is rife over who will be the next chief minister, with Vijay Rupani being seen as a front-runner for the job.

Even during the election campaign, BJP president Amit Shah had said that the party was fighting the polls under Rupani and Nitin Patel.

Apart from Rupani, the other names doing the rounds for the top job in the state are those of Nitin Patel and Mansukh Mandavia, a Rayja Sabha member from Gujarat who is a member of the Narendra Modi government. Mandavia belongs to the Patidar community.

The swearing-in is likely to take place on December 25 on the birthday of former prime minister and BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Rupani had resigned on Thursday along with his council of ministers, paving the way for the formation of a new government. Rupani, accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and other ministers visited Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar and handed over their resignation letters to the Governor.

Rupani, however, would serve as the caretaker chief minister till the formation of a new government. 

BJP retained power in Gujarat by winning 99 seats in the 182-member Assembly, while the Congress claimed 77. Six seats went to others, including three Independents.