Gujarat Assembly elections 2017: Star candidate - Vijay Rupani

The Gujarat Chief Minister will try to retain his Rajkot West seat.

Vijay Ramniklal Rupani, 61, is the incumbent Chief Minister of Gujarat. He is in the fray to retain his Rajkot West seat.

Rupani was first elected to the Gujarat Assembly in a byelection in October 2014, and was inducted into the cabinet of Anandiben Patel in November. He held the transport, water supply, labour and employment portfolios.

He also took charge as BJP Gujarat state president in February 2016 and retained the post till he took the office Chief Minister after the resignation of Anandiben Patel in the wake of the Patidar reservation agitation.

Other offices he had held include Rajkot Mayor (1996-97), member of the Rajya Sabha (2006-12) and chairman of the Gujarat Municipal Finance Board (2013).

Rupani was born in Rangoon in Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar). His family moved to Rajkot in 1960. He has an LLB degree from Saurashtra University.

Rupani started his political life in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He was a member of the Jan Sangh, and was jailed during the Emergency. He has been associated with the BJP since its founding in 1980.

His wife Anjali Rupani is also a member of the BJP. They have a son and a daughter, having earlier lost a son in an accident.