Vijay Rupani, former Gujarat CM, was also onboard Air India flight that crashed

Vijay Rupani served as Gujarat's 16th CM

Member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vijay Rupani, served as the 16th Chief Minister of Gujarat for two terms from August 7, 2016, to September 11, 2021. He was also a member of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, representing Rajkot West. As a Chief Minister, he succeeded Anandiben Patel and was sworn in as the Gujarat CM in 2016. In the 2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly Election, he retained the Rajkot West constituency and continued at the top post with Nitin Patel being the Deputy Chief Minister. In September 2021, Vijay Rupani resigned as CM and was succeeded by Bhupendra Patel.

Vijay Rupani was inducted as minister when Anandiben Patel was Gujarat CM

Before taking over as the CM of the state, Rupani also served as Minister of Transport, Minister of Labour & Employment, and Minister of Water Supply from November 2014 to August 2016 when Anandiben Patel was the Gujarat CM. From July 2006 to July 2012, Vijay Rupani was a member of the Rajya Sabha. For six months, from February to August 2016, Vijay was also the President of the BJP in Gujarat.

Vijay Rupani's early political career

During the early part of his political career, Vijay Rupani was elected as a corporator of the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) in 1987. He also served as the mayor of Rajkot from 1996 to 1997. In 1998, he became BJP's Gujarat unit general secretary and was also appointed the chairman of the manifesto committee when Keshubhai Patel was the Chief Minister. Overall, Rupani served as BJP's Gujarat unit general secretary four times and was the chairman of the Gujarat Municipal Finance Board in 2013 when India's current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, was the Gujarat CM.