Anandiben refutes reports of her exit as Gujarat CM

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Tuesday refuted media reports which suggested that BJP is mulling to remove her and bring in another party leader at the helm of affairs in the state, saying “nothing like that is on.” 

“Nothing like that is on,” Anandiben told reporters at Indore in Madhya Pradesh where she had gone to participate in the ongoing Simhastha Kumbh at Ujjain and meet spiritual guru Bhaiyu Maharaj.

She blamed media for linking her and state Health Minister Nitin Patel’s visit to Delhi, suggesting that a change of leadership in Gujarat was imminent. The Gujarat CM arrived at Indore to meet spiritual guru Bhaiyu Maharaj at his Vijay Nagar residence. When mediapersons asked her about reports of 

change of leadership, she quipped “At present, I am here in Indore.” 

“You (media) had linked two different visits to Delhi to come to this conclusion. I had gone to Delhi for the meeting related to water crisis and Nitinbhai (Nitin Patel, health minister) had gone to Delhi on the NEET issue,” she said.

Asked whether the BJP’s political base has suffered because of Patel quota agitation, she said, “At present there is no Patel agitation going on in the state. This protest is completely over now.” 

Speculations are rife in a section of media about a possible change of leadership in Gujarat ahead of the 2017 elections. The reports had said that BJP might ask Anandiben Patel to step down as CM and projected Nitin Patel as a front-runner for the post, after both of them were in Delhi on Monday. They also said the change of leadership in Gujarat was necessitated by to poor handling of the quota agitation by Anandiben, and strains caused by infighting in the party’s state unit.