Gujarat BJP chief unlikely before national head is elected

Even though the three year term of incumbent Gujarat state BJP President Chandrakant Raghunath Patil was over in July this year, BJP in the state will have to wait till the party elects a national president before it can get a new one for itself.

69 year old Patil had in July itself appealed to get relieved of his political responsibility in the wake of his induction in the union cabinet as the minister of water resources but given his track record of scripting the record win of 156 assembly seats among 182 in 2022 polls, Patil's shoes were hard to fill in the state.



Sources in BJP indicated that BJP is likely to appoint a new president for the state only after the party appoints a national president. "There are some structural changes which also need to be done but all that can happen only after the appointment of the new state president," said a party insider.


It may be mentioned here that Gujarat will also hold its municipal and panchayat elections later these year, which are often viewed as the barometer of public sentiments before the crucial assembly poll in three years time. Patil's election management acumen is something that BJP is not willing to deprive itself of in Gujarat just as yet, maintained the source.