Rupani resigns; Gujarat BJP MLAs to meet today to select new CM

Ahmedabad: The newly elected BJP MLAs of Gujarat will meet in Gandhinagar on Friday to choose the next chief minister, a top party official said on Thursday. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and members of his council of ministers resigned. Rupani, a front-runner for the chief minister's post, has been asked to continue as caretaker chief minister till a new government is sworn in.

The BJP legislature party will meet to elect its leader in the presence of central observers for the exercise— Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the party's general secretary Saroj Pandey, the party's state chief Jitu Vaghani told reporters here.

State BJP In-Charge Bhupender Yadav and Co-Incharge V Satish too would attend the meeting at the party headquarters 'Kamalam' on Friday afternoon. "All the MLAs along with party observers and in-charge leaders would meet on Friday to select the leader of the ruling party (chief minister). All the MLAs have been intimated to remain present at Friday's meeting," Vaghani said.

Governor O P Kohli had dissolved the Assembly on Wednesday following the declaration of election results. In the recently concluded polls, the BJP retained power by winning 99 seats in the 182-member Assembly, while the Congress bagged 77. Six seats were won by others.