Anandiben Patel (73) will be sworn in as Gujarat's first woman chief minister at 12.39 pm at the 5,000-capacity Mahatma Mandir on Thursday , as the incumbent Narendra Modi made way for her by handing over his resignation to governor Dr Kamla Beniwal on Wednesday .
On a day of quick and expected developments, the changeover planned by Modi was smooth.
The 123 BJP MLAs were unanimous in their choice, even though some had reservations.
Overwhelmed with emotion and her voice choked, Patel credited her mentor Modi for moulding her as a politician and promised to steer Gujarat along the path of development set by him.
The MLAs' meeting in the Town Hall started with senior minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama proposing Anandiben's name as the next CM. This was endorsed by senior leaders Amit Shah, Ramanlal Vora, Ganpat Vasava and Nitin Patel, putting to rest any semblance of opposition to her candidature. At 4 pm, Patel's tryst with history was sealed. She said being a woman politician was not easy.
“But the BJP creates opportunities and trains women to play an active role,“ she said. “The BJP had fielded 20 women in the 2012 assembly elections of whom 12 were elected. In Lok Sabha elections, four women were fielded and posted 100% result.“
Anandiben said she was aware that there were high hopes from six crore Gujaratis. “I will take Narendrabhai's vision of working for the poor, youth and women forward.“
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