Vijay Rupani to continue as Gujarat chief minister: BJP sources

Ahmedabad: Incumbent chief minister Vijay Rupani is likely to continue as chief minister and a new government will be sworn in at a function either in Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar on December 25.

Sources close to national party president Amit Shah said that the minimum number of seats barely enough to form the government has put the party in a very delicate situation and the party cannot afford to take any risk by changing the chief minister.

One of the sources said that the party required someone who can work with Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides keeping the MLAs happy and not antagonise them and maintain good relationship with RSS.

According to sources, Rupani is the only available leader among the elected MLAs who possess the best qualities to meet these requirements.

Sources said that it was very important to keep MLAs happy because any resentment among them might be used by the Congress for defection and overthrow the government.

Rupani is said to be very close to Amit Shah and he also handled the issue of Patidar agitation very smartly after taking over from former chief minister Anandiben Patel in 2015.

Sources said that national leadership of the party, including PM Modi had told the local leadership to introspect and find out why the party performed so badly though it won enough seats to form the government.

"PM and Amit Shah are very upset over the outcome of elections'', said one of the sources.

Rupani has won the elections from Rajkot West with a margin of over 53,000 votes. He is reported to be very close to local and national RSS leadership.