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Journalism of Courage
Four senior Gujarat BJP leaders — former chief minister Vijay Rupani, former deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, former home minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja and former education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama — have opted out of contest in the upcoming Assembly elections.
While Rupani, Patel and Jadeja have written letters to Gujarat party president CR Paatil, requesting to not consider their names while deciding party candidates for the elections, Chudasama has made a public statement.
The information has become public hours before the party’s central parliamentary board met to decide party candidates Wednesday.
A senior office-bearer of the BJP said that the three leaders have written letters to Paatil while choosing not to seek party ticket in the upcoming assembly elections.
Talking to The Indian Express, Rupani said that he had written a letter to CR Paatil, president of Gujarat state unit of the BJP in this regard on November 5.
“The party gave me the opportunity to serve as chief minister for five years and I worked to the best of my abilities. As a senior leader of the BJP and having already served as chief minister of the state for five years, it doesn’t make sense for me to contest Assembly elections now. I had already conveyed my decision at the Parliamentary board meeting of the BJP and even wrote a formal letter to CR Paatil last week,” Rupani said.
In his letter to Paatil, Rupani said he would like to work for other BJP workers. “With cooperation and company of all, I shouldered the responsibility (as chief minister) for five years in a very good manner. Now, as a senior leader, it is my desire that new workers get opportunities and instead contesting myself, I work actively for victories of other BJP candidates,” Rupani wrote.
Rupani is MLA from Rajkot (west) assembly constituency, earlier known as Rajkot-II Assembly constituency, which has been a BJP fortress since mid-1980s.
