The day she resigned: Anandiben office didn’t know until last minute

Since Monday morning, a top source in CMO told The Indian Express, Anandiben looked completely composed: “She cleared several files and issued instructions for issuing press releases. She later called the team of videographers to shoot a video message. We came to know about the explosion she was about to make only after that.”

Anandiben had kept Monday’s move of putting up her resignation so tightly under wraps that even CMO officials admit they had no clue of what was in store. Besides posting her ‘resignation letter’ on Facebook, Anandiben also posted a video of her reading out the text of it – both in Gujarati and Hindi – on YouTube.

Soon after, she left for her official residence around 5 pm, where she remained confined all of Tuesday as well, presiding over meetings with officials and overseeing flood rescue operations.

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The chief minister did not go to Swarnim Sankul-I at the Secretariat, which houses offices of the CM and other Cabinet ministers, on Tuesday. In the morning, she held a meeting of Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA) to take stock of the flood situation in south Gujarat. The meeting was attended by Chief Principal Secretary to CM K Kailashnathan, Principal Secretary to CM S Aparna, and top GSDMA officials.

The entrance to the chief minister’s bungalow at ministerial enclave in Gandhinagar on Tuesday. (Express photo by Javed Raja)

Finance Minister Saurabh Patel, who today announced a new wind power policy of Gujarat for the next five years, told the media that he had gone to the CM’s residence in the morning since some corrections in the policy required her nod. “She went through the corrections and cleared it,” Patel said.

On Tuesdays, the CM usually meets the state’s MPs and MLAs, and the general public, at Swarnim Sankul. The venue moved to her residence today, even though she remained accessible to all visitors — the public as well as the elected representatives. From around 3 pm, visitors were let in even without prior appointment.

In the second half of the day, several party workers, some MLAs and supporters from her Ghatlodia constituency in Ahmedabad met Anandiben.