Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and former deputy-CM Nitin Patel had informed the BJP high command their intentions to not fight the assembly elections yesterday. Notably, their statements came at a time when a meeting of Central Parliamentary Board in New Delhi was convened to finalise the list of the candidates under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

In his statement sent to the Gujarat BJP president CR Paatil, Rupani, who served as the CM of the state from 2016-2021 said, “I worked as CM for 5 yrs with everyone's cooperation. In these polls, responsibility should be given to new workers. I won't contest the polls. I sent a letter in this regard to party seniors and conveyed it to Delhi. We'll work to make the chosen candidate win.”

Two other senior BJP leaders Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and Pradipsinh Jadeja, who were cabinet ministers in Rupani government also have decided not to fight the upcoming elections.

Almost echoing the words of Rupani that the new people should be given chance Chudasama said, "I will not fight the assembly elections and have conveyed my decision to the party. I've decided that other workers should get opportunities as well. I've fought the elections nine times till now. I express my gratitude to the party."

As per the reports BJP is going to finalise the list of the candidates very soon in a meeting of Gujarat BJP core committee that will be chaired by the Home Minister Amit Shah. A few reports have indicated that the BJP is about to slash the number of incumbents by 20% in the list.

The Central Election Committee (CEC) led by the PM though is supposed to finalise the list, it will primarily be discussed in the state level core committees. It is not yet clear whether internal rebellion will be an issue for BJP here similar to Himachal Pradesh.

BJP pushing young faces??

BJP, that has won Gujarat six times definitely faces anti-incumbency on the ground. Added to that is the emerging popularity of Kejriwal style model of development that unexpectedly Punjab endorsed last year.

The political analysts think that the BJP will try to push some fresh blood to add energy to the campaign that will be able to contain the rise of AAP. Interestingly, the party’s recent campaign ‘Main Khush Hoon’ is framed towards that direction.

The people have been asked to write for what policies they are happy with the tag 'Main Khush Hoon'. Such outreach programmes, the analysts say actually are taken keeping in mind the Kejriwal style promotions that in the recent past have gained momentum.

Gujarat will go for two-phased polls on December 1 and 5 in its 182 assembly seats. The results will be declared on December 8.