Smriti Irani dismissed speculative about her as next Gujarat CM.
NEW DELHI : Union minister Smriti Irani has, with much amusement, rubbished speculation that she is in the running to be Gujarat’s next Boss , saying, “everyone wants to get rid of me that is why they start such rumors.” Ms Irani, who is Minister for Textiles and Information and Broadcasting, is also a Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat.
Many news reports are already doing the rounds on social media and internet speculating that BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat and Union Smriti Irani may become the next CM of Gujarat. Now, Smriti Irani has broken her silence and reacted to the news reports about her role in Gujarat as CM.
Smriti Irani has dismissed the speculative reports talking about her as next Gujarat CM. Smriti Irani says. Gujarat’s top post was seen as reserved for outgoing chief minister Vijay Rupani before assembly election results were announced on Monday.
The BJP could not win even 100 seats, stalling at 99, 16 short of their tally in the last election, in the face of a spirited fight by the Congress.
The lower margin of victory is said to have changed Mr Rupani’s status as sure-to-be-next-CM. He remains a front runner, but in Delhi today top BJP sources told that the party will “discuss before going ahead.” Earlier this year, BJP chief Amit Shah had announced that Mr Rupani would be chief minister again. But now, the sources said, the party will have to recalibrate its strategy ahead of the 2019 national election, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek a second term.
In 2014, when the BJP stormed to power led by Mr Modi, then chief minister of Gujarat, the state had given all 26 parliament seats to the party. The assembly election result this year has signaled that the BJP will have to work hard to repeat that performance.
Vijay Rupani is seen as the favourite for the top post, but the BJP’s performance in the assembly elections has thrown open the possibility of the party opting for someone else.
Gujarat’s next chief minister is expected to be announced by Sunday and a new government is likely to be sworn in on December 25.
In this year’s Gujarat election, the Congress played on the anger of these key groups against the ruling BJP, posting its best result in decades. The opposition party has won 80 seats, 19 more than last time.
Patel leaders, outgoing deputy chief minister Nitin Patel and state BJP chief Jeetu Vaghani, as well as union minister Purshottam Rupala are in the race for Chief Minister, as is current minister of state for home Pradeepsinh Jadeja.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will go to Gujarat later this week to oversee the selection of the next chief minister.
BJP won 99 seats in the 182-member assembly, down from 115 it won in 2012, and far lower than the 150-plus seats it had hoped for. The Congress won 77, up by 16 seats that was marked by acrimonious exchanges and rhetoric during the high octane campaign.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the party’s victory in Gujarat–where it has been continuously in power since 1998 as unprecedented, noting that retaining office was once considered a huge achievement in the country. Modi also said the win in Gujarat this time was not ‘samanya’ (normal) but ‘asamanya’ (special).
He accused the Congress of promoting casteism in the elections, and said there were many forces at work besides the opposition party to bring the BJP down. “In their hunger for power, some people tried to sow the seeds of casteism in the last few months for the elections. The people rejected it,” he said. (With Agency Inputs ).
