Modi turns focus on Gujarat successor

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, confident of a victory for his party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the 16th Lok Sabha elections, held a closed-door meeting with his confidants on Monday to discuss his successor and other strategies for the period immediately after the election results on May 16.

According to sources in the BJP, a few of Modi’s confidants, including state Revenue Minister Anandiben Patel, Finance Minister Nitin Patel, Energy Minister Saurabh Patel and senior Gujarat unit members, attended the meeting. They discussed various aspects related to the state administration and the strategy to be adopted in case Modi moved to New Delhi as prime minister.

Sources say Anandiben is the front runner for the post of chief minister as she is the most senior member of the state Cabinet and has vast experience in administration. She has handled crucial ministries such as those of education, revenue and women and child development. Also, the BJP wants to take advantage of the opportunity to appoint the state's first woman chief minister.

Though party members remained tight-lipped about what went on in the meeting, sources say Modi will also meet his state Cabinet members along with BJP MLAs on Tuesday and is likely to discuss the issue of his successor in greater detail.

Bureaucrats closely watching the development also indicate that Anandiben is poised to become the next chief minister after Modi. They say Anandiben has already assumed a bigger role and has been chairing important meetings on state administration in Modi’s absence.

However, senior BJP leader Vijay Rupani says the final decision on who will become chief minister after Modi will be decided by the party's parliamentary board after the results of the Lok Sabha elections are out.

The name of senior BJP leader Bhikhu Dalsania is also doing the rounds, because of his perceived closeness to the RSS.