Anandi Patel emerges frontrunner to succeed Modi

Anandi Patel, Gujarat's Revenue Minister and a close aide of Narendra Modi, is likely to be chosen his successor when the BJP legislature party meets here tomorrow to elect a new leader.
"Most probably, Anandiben Patel will be the next chief minister of Gujarat," a source in BJP said.
Modi, the longest-serving chief minister of the state, who led BJP to a spectacular victory in the Lok Sabha elections, is scheduled to resign tomorrow after he was appointed as Prime Minister today by President Pranab Mukherjee.
Another BJP leader said it is "95 per cent final" that Patel will be the new chief minister of Gujarat. However, speaking on condition of anonymity, another leader said nothing can be said for sure till the time the legislature party decides on Modi's successor.

Apart from 73-year-old Patel, others in the race for chief ministership are BJP general secretary Amit Shah, who is being credited for the party's resurgence and resounding victory in Uttar Pradesh, senior ministers Nitin Patel and Saurabh Patel, besides state party general secretary Bhikubhai Dalsania.
Modi will be present at the legislature party meeting at Gandhinagar town hall along with party's central observer Thavar Chand Gehlot and state in-charge Om Mathur.

If Patel is selected for the top post, she will be the first woman chief minister of Gujarat.
Patel, considered to be very close to Modi, is minister of Revenue and Urban Development in the Modi government. She was also a minister in the government of Modi's predecessor Keshubhai Patel.

A school teacher by profession, she had left her job to join politics.