Legislators across party lines unite to pay tributes to former CM Rupani as Monsoon Session of Gujarat Assembly kicks off

CM Bhupendra Patel moved a proposal to pay tributes to seven former members of the House who have died recently. Besides Rupani, these include former ministers Hemaben Acharya, Ishwarsinh Chavda, Noorjahanbakht Babi, and Balvantrai Manvar, and former members Bhupendrakumar Patani and Ranchhodbhai Mer.

Paying tributes to Rupani, Patel recalled his contribution in the development of Gujarat and mentioned establishing AIIMS at Rajkot besides the Rajkot International Airport at Hirasar village as some of the achievements of the former CM.

Recollecting Rupani’s tenure as the CM of Gujarat, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Rushikesh Patel told the House how the senior BJP leader camped in Banaskantha for five days during the massive floods in the northern district in 2017. The minister also traced Rupani’s journey from a student leader to the CM of Gujarat.

Agriculture minister Raghavji Patel said that it was due to the efforts of Rupani that Rajkot got an AIIMS and an international airport at Hirasar.

Senior Congress leader and MLA from Danilimda constituency, Shailesh Parmar, remembered the time of Covid-19 when Rupani was the CM. He recalled how Rupani had held a meeting with him and two other then MLAs of the Opposition — Gyasuddin Shaikh and Imran Khedawala — before imposing curfew in Ahmedabad city.

Porbandar MLA Arjun Modhwadia said that Rupani held a number of posts in the BJP and the government, but the one post that he did maximum justice to was as a worker of the party.

AAP legislator from Visavadar constituency Gopal Italia praised Rupani for accepting the responsibility as CM in 2016 when the state was facing various agitations. He said that Rupani tackled the situation with a lot of patience, restraint and will power and it showed his leadership quality.

Italia said that Rupani never had hatred for anybody, including Patidar agitators like him. Italia said that he knew Rupani from three different perspectives; first as a revenue clerk, then as a Patidar agitator and finally, as a member of the AAP.

After passing the obituary references, the House was adjourned for the rest of the day.