After photofinishing Gujarat Assembly elections held earlier this month with a seat tally in double digit figure of 99, as against 115 in 2012, the Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel will finally take charge of his office after sulking for few days over portfolio allocation.
Patel, who was earlier brooding over stripped of key portfolios of finance and urban development, had refused to take charge of office till his ‘prestige is restored’. Patel had even threatened to resign if the party leadership didn’t bring a solution to his concerns.
On Sunday, however, he finally assumed office as deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat after discussing with party leadership who agreed to give him ‘suitable departments’.
I have been assured that I will be given suitable departments, I also talked to Amit Shah ji over the phone. I thank him for the assurance: Nitin Patel pic.twitter.com/42okaEduKt
— ANI (@ANI) December 31, 2017
Patel had met RSS leaders and held talks with BJP President Amit Shah, who agreed that the process for allocation of his portfolios is on.
I wished for allocation of important departments suitable to the office of Deputy Chief Minister.I spoke to Amit Shah, Ramlalji and others and expressed my feeling.They all held consultation and today at 7.30 am Amit Shah informed me over phone call that process is on:Nitin Patel pic.twitter.com/oswAIGvpni
— DeshGujarat (@DeshGujarat) December 31, 2017
Meanwhile, other political parties and politicians came out to support Nitin Patel in breaking away from the BJP. Hardik Patel, who spearheaded the Patidar agitation two years back, and had explicit support of Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal before he joined hands with Congress, even offered to ‘talk to Congress’ to get Patel a ‘good position’.
If Gujarat Deputy CM #NitinPatel along with 10 MLAs is ready to leave BJP, then will talk to Congress to get him a good position. If BJP does not respect him, he should leave the party: Hardik Patel in Gujarat’s Sarangpur pic.twitter.com/cFlORE7Yqu
— ANI (@ANI) December 30, 2017
However, following assurances by Shah, Nitin Patel has ended his 3-day political drama and assumed office.
