Anandiben offers to quit as Gujarat CM; cites age factor

Ahmedabad, August 1

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Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Monday offered to quit the position in a resignation letter to the Bharatiya Janata Party citing her advancing age, as Dalit protests in the state threatened to hurt the standing of the ruling party.

Patel first announced her intention on Facebook on Monday evening.

"There has been a tradition in the party for sometime that those who attain the age of 75, voluntarily retire from the post. I will turn 75 in November," the state's first woman chief minister, who succeeded Narendra Modi on May 22, 2014, said in her post.

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"Two months ago I had requested the party to relieve me from the post and today also through this letter, I request the party to relieve me of the post," Patel said.

"I am asking the party to relieve me two months in advance as the new chief minister will require the time to work, when the state is going to face elections in 2017 and an important event like Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January," Patel said.

"It (the rule of 75) is a good thing and it will give a chance to young leaders to come up," she said.

She also said the party would need a new face for the party in the upcoming assembly elections.

The practice of leaders retiring from public positions was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was at the helm of the state.

BJP national president Amit Shah confirmed he had received Patel's resignation, but said the decision would be taken by the party’s Parliamentary Board.

“Anandiben Patelji has worked efficiently as the first woman chief minister of Gujarat and has carried forward Prime Minister Modi's Vikas Yatra to new heights. She feels that the new chief minister should be given adequate time for Vibrant Gujarat Summit to be held in January,” BJP President Amit Shah said.

BJP’s Parliamentary Board will meet on Tuesday to decide on Patel’s successor.

Patel had been a minister in the BJP government since 1998 until she took over the state’s helm in 2014, after Modi became Prime Minister.

Assembly elections are due in the state in 2017. The post-Modi BJP in Gujarat is likely to face challenges.

Patel has had a challenging tenure. First, she faced the violent Patel agitation in August 2015 that killed 10 people. Then, BJP fared poorly in the rural civic body elections in December 2015, allowing rival Congress to make strides at its cost. 

More recently, ongoing protests by Dalits against an attack on members of the community in the state by some right-wing vigilantes once again sparked debates of growing intolerance under Prime Minister Modi's rule.

Dalits in the state are protesting against an incident in which four men of the traditionally underprivileged community were beaten by cow vigilantes in Gujarat’s Una for having a skinned cow. The men say the animal was dead. — Agencies

Guj CM Anandiben Patel says she will soon be 75 years of age, offers to resign from CM post citing the same.

— ANI (@ANI_news)