Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, on Wednesday, resigned from Gujarat Vidhan Sabha as its member.
Shah, who was elected to the Upper House of Parliament early on Wednesday, said, as a Rajya Sabha MP, he will represent Gujarat in the national capital to protect its interests in New Delhi.
On the second and last day of the two-day Monsoon Session, he tendered his resignation to Speaker Ramanlal Vora, just a few months before elections are due to elect the next Assembly. Shah represented the Naranpura Assembly constituency, Ahmedabad. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Deputy CM Nitin Patel and other leaders were also present.
Shah, 53, had contested for the first time in 1990 in a by-election to the Sarkhej Assembly constituency in Ahmedabad, which he retained until 2007 in three successive elections. He shifted to Naranpura in 2012.
Seen as a close confidante of the Prime Minister, Shah was a powerful Minister of State in the BJP Government led by Narendra Modi from 2002 onwards. From 2007 to 2010, he held about a dozen ministries and portfolios in the BJP government, simultaneously.
Considered Number two in both the BJP and its government at the Centre, Shah, addressing party workers at a rather somber felicitation at the State BJP Headquarters here on Wednesday evening, said he will now be Gujarat’s representative in New Delhi and work to protect the state’s interests.
Union Minister Smriti Irani, who also retained her Rajya Sabha seat, was present at the listless function, apparently reflecting the party’s mood after it lost a crucial Rajya Sabha seat to Congress leader Ahmed Patel after a bitterly-contested poll.
Meanwhile, rebel Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela and some of his supporters, who voted against Congress nominee Patel in the just-concluded Rajya Sabha polls, are expected to resign from the Vidhan Sabha anytime now.
The Vijay Rupani Government is said to preparing to dissolve the Assembly anytime now and request elections in mid-October.
The tenure of the current Assembly is until December 2017.