Opinion: Who will be Gujarat chief minister if Narendra Modi becomes PM?

Mumbai: With Lok Sabha elections drawing to a close next week and poll predictions favouring Narendra Modi as the next Prime Minister, the most important question today is who will be the chief minister of Gujarat?

Who can step into the 'august' shoes of Narendra Modi in Gujarat?

The first to be bold enough to raise his hand (unasked) is state finance minister Nitin Patel. He has been bold enough to say he is ready to take up the job if the party extends him the opportunity.

"I am ready to be chief minister if party asks me to take up the job," Patel told PTI. "If you ask this question to any MLA that are you ready to be the Chief Minister he will reply in positive. If you ask Virat Kohli that would he like to be captain of India obviously he would not say no," Patel said.

Patel, the Finance minister in Modi's cabinet, though insisted that whatever the party decides would be accepted by all including him and that discipline would not be breached.

Who else are in the race?

Certainly, Anandiben Patel, a fierce loyalist of Narendra Modi and the state's education minister and former teacher. She stood by Modi during the days of dissent by Keshubhai Patel.

Then there is Narendra Modi's Uttar Pradesh in-charge and MLA Amit Shah. His loyalty to Modi remains unquestioned though he has shadowy records of allegedly being involved in encounter cases. But the fact that Modi handed him the responsibility to deliver him Uttar Pradesh would mean he is on the right side of the Gujarat ironman.

Another name doing the rounds is that of another favourite Saurabh Patel. He is related to the Ambanis and has a degree from an American university. When Modi held all important portfolios for nearly a decade, Saurabh Patel was the deputy minister for most of them. These include ports, mines and minerals, energy and petrochemicals and industry.

Columnist Aakar Patel writes in the Mint: "That is to say, he was the minister for Reliance, Adani, Essar, Torrent and Tata. The old insider joke in Gandhinagar was to refer to Modi as the Draupadi who had to serve these five Pandavs, but it is actually Saurabhbhai who did most of the heavy lifting (no pun) in implementation. He is good technically and insiders believe that Modi’s genius ideas on electricity distribution actually came from him. Unfortunately, Saurabhbhai doesn’t have the grip over politics which Anandiben does, which has its advantages and disadvantages from Modi’s perspective."

There is another, a dark horse -- Rajya Sabha member Parshottam Rupala. He is a Patel too.

The column says: "The fact is that the BJP in Gujarat is the party of Patels. The Patels were early and enthusiastic opponents of the Babri Masjid and supporters of the Ram temple. It is their votes which have kept the BJP in power in Gujarat and four out of nine ministers in the Modi Cabinet are usually Patels. Modi has kept them on his right side… But happily for the community that has stayed faithful to the BJP, no matter who among these four is chief minister, it will likely be a Patel in charge."

May 16 will tell us if the post will fall vacant. Party sources say a final decision in this regard will only be taken by the central leadership after the final results.