Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani submitted his resignation to the Governor of Gujarat, Acharya Devvrat, on Saturday, 15 months before the Gujarat election polls.
Union Minister Mansukh Mandviya, Parshottam Rupala, State Minister Bhupendra Singh Chudasama, Pradip Singh Jadeja, and BJP in-charge Bhupendra Yadav were present at the Governor’s residence when the CM submitted his resignation letter.
He became the 3rd chief minister of Gujarat in 2016 to represent BJP. After his resignation, he addressed the media at the Raj Bhawan at Gandhinagar. He said that he is very grateful to BJP for its leadership and the opportunity to serve as a chief minister and will remain committed to PM Modi’s leadership.
The reasons behind the unexpected resignation are not clear yet. Rupani became the CM on 7 August 2016, and he is also a member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly representing Rajkot West.
As a student activist, Vijay Rupani’s career started with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP); he also joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and after that Jan Sangh in 1971. He was elected as a candidate of BJP to Rajkot Municipal Corporation in 1987 and became mayor in 1996. He was nominated to Rajya Sabha in 2006, and then was elected as the chief minister in 2016.
Vijay Rupani was the 16th chief minister of Gujarat. Jivraj Narayan Mehta was the first Chief Minister, and he belonged to Indian National Congress. PM Narendra Modi, the 14th chief minister of Gujarat, served for 14 years and resigned in 2014 to become Prime Minister of India. He was succeeded by Anandiben Patel.
This year BS Yeddyurappa resigned as Karnataka Chief Minister, and Pushkar Dami also replaced Tirath Singh Rawat as CM in Uttarakhand.
About CM qualifications:-
The Constitution of India sets the qualification principle as to be eligible for Chief Minister are:-
- Must be a Citizen of India
- Must be a member of the state legislature (if he has not ceased to be a member of the legislature, then he must be elected as a member of state legislature within six months from the date of their appointment.)
- Must be of 25 years of age or more
- Must be a graduate
A chief minister is elected for five years. If the Chief Minister wants to resign, he can submit his resignation to the Governor of that state.
The salaries and allowances of Ministers shall be such as the state legislature may from time to time determine. Until the legislature considers these, Ministers shall be paid such salaries and allowances as were payable to them immediately before the commencement of the constitution.
