AHMEDABAD: With Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel visiting Delhi — a day after the two-day visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his home state — and meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda among others, speculations are rife of a possible overhaul in Gujarat’s BJP organisational set up.
According to sources, apart Patel and Nadda, BJP national organisation general secretary BL Santhosh was also present at Shah’s official residence in Delhi. Observers say the presence of Santhosh was noteworthy as last time when he attended a meeting with the Gujarat BJP leaders, there were significant changes in the state leadership. Moreover, former chief minister Vijay Rupani’s cabinet was changed when Sathosh visited Gujarat.
The Gujarat chief minister was accompanied by the state BJP president CR Patil and state BJP organisation general secretary Ratnakar. Importantly, this is the third time since July that the three senior leaders had visited the national capital. Recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held marathon meetings with chief minister Patel and state BJP president Patil in Gandhinagar. The performance of state ministers was reviewed during the meetings, said sources. Although there is no official information over the chief minister’s visit to Delhi, according to sources, the recent Vibrant Gujarat summit and upcoming assembly elections in neighbouring Rajasthan could have also been discussed.
Prime Minister Modi, in his two-day visit, inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for development projects worth around `5,950 crore in the northern region of the state. A major chunk of these projects, worth around `5,130 crore, were related to the railways. Gujarat sends 26 members to Parliament. In the last Lok Sabha elections, all 26 seats went into BJP’s kitty.