Even as the BJP’s parliamentary board has met to finalise the list of candidates for assembly elections in Gujarat, several top leaders from the state have come out in the open to declare that they are not in the fray.
Leading from the front are former chief minister Vijay Rupani and his then deputy Nitin Patel.
While Rupani told media on Wednesday that he has already informed the leadership that young people should be given a chance and that he is not interested in contesting the elections, Patel wrote a letter to Gujarat BJP president C.R. Patil.
Rupani and Patel represent Rajkot (West) and Mehsana seats, respectively.
Others who have expressed their “desire” of not contesting elections included former education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and former home minister Pradipsinh Jadeja.
R.C. Faldu, Kaushik Patel and Saurabh Patel, who were also members of the Rupani cabinet, have also declared that they are not contesting the elections.
It should be noted that the BJP leadership in September 2021 had not only changed the chief minister and his deputy, but the entire cabinet was shown the door, a move that had raised many eyebrows.
A couple of months ago, Rupani was made the in-charge of the party in Punjab, in indication that his role in Gujarat is almost over.
There were allegations of corruption against the Rupani-led government and his team was facing anti-incumbency, which the BJP could not afford to carry on further with the election scheduled in December 2022.
Gujarat votes on December 1 and 5 to elect 182 law makers.
In a letter to Patil, Patel said that he does not want to contest election and his name should not be considered for Mehsana seat.
In the handwritten letter, Patel stated that he had begun his career as a member of Kadi municipality in 1977. He also mentioned that he represented Kadi assembly segment four times and then the Mehsana assembly seat from 2012 to 2022.
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inspiring him, Patel said that he would continue to remain a dedicated worker of the party.
Interestingly, in an interview to a local TV channel in 2021, after the cabinet was changed, Patel had said he would contest the upcoming election from Mehsana.
The grapevine in the political circles of the state is that the BJP Parliamentary Board had already decided on who all among the sitting MLAs would not be given tickets this time. These leaders were reportedly told to make an announcement that they are not interested in contesting, so that the announcement of any other name in their seats does not come in as an embarrassment for them.