Anandiben Patel unwilling to contest upcoming Gujarat assembly elections

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has told BJP chief Amit Shah that she is not keen to contest in the upcoming state Assembly elections.

In a letter, dated October 4, she cited her age - 75 - as the reason behind her decision, while urging that meritorious and winnable candidates be fielded.

Patel, who had succeeded Narendra Modi in 2014 to become the first woman Chief Minister of the state, had resigned in August 2016 in the wake of the Bharatiya Janata Party's drubbing in the 2015 local self-government elections and the Patidar agitation.

Patel, who represents the Ghatlodia constituency, joined the BJP in 1987 and became a legislator in the late 1990s.