Man of few words, many votes — Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel bags record win again

Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had described Patel as “mrudu ane makkam (mild and firm)” will be at Patel’s swearing-in ceremony at the Helipad ground inside the New Secretariat complex on December 12, along with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. State BJP chief C R Paatil made the announcement at a press conference held after BJP’s emphatic victory on Thursday.

“People of Gujarat have once again negated the anti-national elements while giving an opportunity to the nationalists to serve them,” Patel said after the results.

Bhupendra Patel after the BJP swept the Gujarat polls on Thursday.

When Modi kicked off the BJP campaign from Valsad with the slogan “we have built this Gujarat”, the PM had said, “This time, the BJP will break all the old records of victory. I will come here regularly, whenever needed. I have come here to break my own victory record… I have come here so that Bhupendra (Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel) can break the record of Narendra… This election is not fought by Narendra or Bhupendra, it is fought by my brothers and sisters.”

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Five years ago, the Kadva Patidar leader (Patel) had won by the then highest margin of 1,17,750 votes in the state, breaking the earlier record of his mentor and now Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, who had won by 1,10,395 votes from Ghatlodia. The Ghatlodia seat in Ahmedabad city has the highest number of voters in Gujarat.

Patel, who is a builder by profession, was brought in as the CM in September last year, replacing Vijay Rupani in an audacious move where the BJP also replaced the ministers.

Patel, a man of few words, listed out the range of developmental initiatives that the BJP is planning to implement in Gujarat, including agriculture infrastructure, expansion of Sujalam Suflam irrigation canals and SAUNI Yojana, vaccination of livestock, developing country’s first blue economy industrial corridor, and creating 20-lakh employment opportunities to youths in next five years.

On Thursday evening at a party meeting in Khanpur, Patel said that the victory was a stamp of approval from the people of Gujarat for ‘politics of development’ started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Whenever elections are held, BJP always give an account of works done by it. The BJP worker always stays attached with the people and the results show that the attachment has only grown deeper,” Patel said.