After Anandiben Patel's resignation as Gujarat Chief Minister, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is already facing a lot of heat on account of the Patel quota agitation and Dalit protests, is now looking at deciding upon who would be a suitable successor to the position. The party's top parliamentary board held a meeting earlier today, that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah. Post the meeting, senior leader Venkaiah Naidu told reporters that Nitin Gadkari and Saroj Pandey have been appointed observers to talk to local leaders and decide on the successor. He also denied rumours that Shah, who is an MLA in the state, will be appointed chief minister. It is expected that the board will accept Anandiben's resignation and announce name of the next chief minister on Wednesday itself. Ever since the news of Anandiben's resignation, speculations regarding the next CM face have been ripe. These are some of the leaders considered to be front-runners. With the state all set for Assembly elections in 2017 for the first time without the presence of Narendra Modi as CM candidate since 2001, the party would want to choose someone who has strong leadership capabilities combined with the support of a community which can retain votes for the party. Vijay Rupani The most likely candidate for CM's post after Anandiben Patel is Vijay Rupani, a cabinet minister and party's state president. Rupani is also one of the senior politicians and the only minister in the current cabinet who was jailed during the emergency. WATCH VIDEO: Who Will Replace Anandiben Patel: BJP Parliamentary Board To Decide Soon Rupani has also been associated with the BJP since its inception and was previously with the RSS and Jan Sangh. He started off as a student leader and has also served as a Rajya Sabha MP. Rupani is believed to have good relations with almost all the party leaders including PM Modi and Amit Shah and he also served as party's state general secretary during Modi's tenure as the CM. Nitin Patel The second name that comes up after Rupani is party's current second-in-command in the state, Nitin Patel. Reportedly, Patel had shown his interest in serving as the state Chief Minister during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Patel contested his first assembly election in the state in 1995 and has been a member of BJP since 30 years. He has also served at various important positions in successive governments. Also, belonging to the Patidar community, Patel can be a suitable CM candidate to represent the party in assembly elections and to take the community into confidence. Bhupendrasinh Chudasama Chudasama may not be seen as a strong contestant for the CM race but he might get a chance because of his clean image and strong allegiance to the RSS. A non-controversial leader and currently cabinet minister in the state, Chudasama's name might be chosen for the position. However, Chudasama's name was recently taken by Talati scam accused Kalyansinh Champawat after which Aam Aadmi Party demanded his resignation terming it a 'bigger' scam than the infamous Vyapam in Madhya Pradesh. However, Chudasama rubbished all the allegations and threatened to file a defamation case against Champawat.
