Vijay Rupani retained as BJP’s Gujarat chief minister, Nitin Patel his deputy

The decision to make Vijay Rupani the Gujarat chief minister was taken at a meeting supervised by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in Ahmedabad.

GujaratElection2017 Updated: Dec 22, 2017 17:33 IST

Arun Jaitley (2nd from Left) congratulating Vijay Rupani after he was picked as the Gujarat chief minister. (ANI Photo)

The BJP on Friday decided to continue with Vijay Rupani at the helm, naming him Gujarat’s chief minister, while Nitin Patel will remain his deputy.

The decision was taken at a meeting supervised by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in Ahmedabad. BJP’s general secretary-in-charge of Gujarat Bhupender Yadav was also present.

“Vijay Rupani was chosen as legislature party leader unanimously. Will inform you all about the swearing in soon,” Arun Jaitley told reporters in Ahmedabad on Friday.

The BJP, which has been in power in Gujarat for 22 years, won 99 of the 182 seats, its poorest performance so far. The Congress plus allies won 80 seats.

61-year-old Rupani, who replaced Anandiben Patel in August 2016, had resigned on Thursday.

In the polls held earlier this month, Rupani won Rajkot West seat with over 53,000 votes and Nitin Patel retained his Mehsana seat.