New Delhi: As BJP’s Vijay Rupani resigned as the chief minister of Gujarat, opposition Congress called it a proof of the failure of the state government, adding that the onus lies with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rupani, who became the chief minister of Gujarat in 2016, resigned around a year before the term of the government would end in the state.
Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the onus of the failure of BJP in the state lay with PM Modi, adding that it was time to push BJP out of power in the state.
“Deep seated infighting in all BJP ruled states, be it Gujarat, Rajasthan, U.P, M.P, Assam or Haryana. This shows the failure of PM’s & HM’s leadership,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said in a series of tweets.
“If their anointed CM Vijay Rupani has failed Gujarat and its people after 5 years, the onus must lie at the doorsteps of Modiji,” he said.
“It’s time to rid Gandhi-Patel’s ‘Karambhoomi’ of the machiavellian BJP & its leadership,” he added.
Gujarat Congress chief Amit Chavda meanwhile told UNI that the resignation was an attempt by BJP to hide its failure. He also talked about infighting in the BJP in Gujarat.
“The Gujarat government has failed on all fronts. Over three lakh people have died of Covid, people have lost their loved ones. Farmers are suffering, every class of society is facing problems. The BJP government has failed and the resignation proves it,” Chavda told UNI.
He said it was a tactic of the BJP to hide its failure.
“No chief minister of BJP apart from Narendra Modi has completed their tenures in Gujarat. There is also an internal fight in the party since CR Patil became the party president (in Gujarat). This resignation is a tactic to divert people’s attention from the mismanagement done by BJP. But people have already seen what happened,” Chavda said.
Congress spokesperson in Gujarat Manhal Patel questioned why the chief minister had to resign just a month after the state government celebrated five years of good governance.
“Gujarat government recently celebrated five years of good governance, BJP was lauding Vijay Rupani’s ‘good governance’, but this resignation shows what the truth was. If he was so good, what was the need to change him?” he said.
Gujarat government had celebrated five years of Rupani as a chief minister with a series of events between August 1 to 9.
Independent MLA in the state Jignesh Mewani said the resignation was a political move.
“People of Gujarat would have appreciated had Mr. Rupani resigned for his monumental mismanagement of Covid crisis.This resignation comes purely to
take care of electoral arithmetic keeping 2022 assembly polls in mind,” Mewani said in a tweet.
Aam Aadmi Party which has announced it will contest all seats in Gujarat in the upcoming polls, claimed BJP is scared of the AAP.
AAP in a tweet said when they entered Uttarakhand, BJP chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat and then Tirath Singh Rawat resigned.
“AAP enters Gujarat, CM Vijay Rupani Resigns,” AAP said in a tweet.
The Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in BJP in 1995 when Keshubhai Patel became the chief minister. There was a brief period when Rashtriya Janata Party was in power, a party which came out as a splinter group of BJP, and later was later dissolved and the leaders, including Shankersinh Vaghela joined the Congress.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held the post of Gujarat chief minister for twelve years, between 2002 and 2014.
In the assembly elections in 2017, BJP won 99 seats and Congress won 77 in the 182 member assembly.
Since then, the numbers of Congress has gone down to 64 due to defections and defeat in the by-polls, and BJP has gone up to 112.
Elections are due in Gujarat late in 2022.
With Vijay Rupani quitting, Gujarat has become the third BJP-ruled state where the incumbent resigned before completing their terms in the office. Earlier, Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa had put in his papers after days of suspense over his continuation in the office.
Also, barely a few months after taking over as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Tirath Singh Rawat had also resigned paving the way for a relatively younger party colleague Pushkar Singh Dhami to take the baton.
