Gujarat’s experiment with its first woman Chief Minister was short-lived as CM Anandiben Patel submitted her resignation to the party high command and announced the same on her Facebook page. The ostensible reason given for her resignation was her approaching 75 years, an indicative threshold within BJP for quitting office. But there is more to it.
A longtime BJP party worker and trusted colleague of Narendra Modi in the state, she was entrusted with the responsibility of carrying forward Narendra Modi’s development legacy in Gujarat, which he so assiduously built during his 12 years in office.
Selecting a woman as the next CM, especially someone who maintained a relatively low profile in state politics, was in itself a politically risky move for the party. The appointment could prove to be a masterstroke, for a state running high on Narendra Modi’s achievements, or it could backfire politically, thereby losing the hard earned political gains of the party from 2001 onwards.
The fact that she has resigned within two years in office confirms the latter and comes at a time when the party is struggling to put up a fight in the forthcoming crucial elections in U.P. The timing is not good at all and confirms the political crisis BJP faces in the state.
Gujarat’s experiment with its first woman Chief Minister was short-lived as CM Anandiben Patel submitted her resignation to the party high command and announced the same on her Facebook page. The ostensible reason given for her resignation was her approaching 75 years, an indicative threshold within BJP for quitting office. But there is more to it.
A longtime BJP party worker and trusted colleague of Narendra Modi in the state, she was entrusted with the responsibility of carrying forward Narendra Modi’s development legacy in Gujarat, which he so assiduously built during his 12 years in office.
Selecting a woman as the next CM, especially someone who maintained a relatively low profile in state politics, was in itself a politically risky move for the party. The appointment could prove to be a masterstroke, for a state running high on Narendra Modi’s achievements, or it could backfire politically, thereby losing the hard earned political gains of the party from 2001 onwards.
The fact that she has resigned within two years in office confirms the latter and comes at a time when the party is struggling to put up a fight in the forthcoming crucial elections in U.P. The timing is not good at all and confirms the political crisis BJP faces in the state.
