Chief Minister of Gujarat
NAME– Vijaybhai Ramniklal Rupani
PROFESSION– Politician.
BORN– 02 August 1956 (Age 64).
PLACE OF BIRTH – Rangoon, Burma.
FATHER’S NAME – Ramniklal Rupani.
MOTHER’S NAME – Mayaben Rupani.
SPOUSE – Anjali Rupani.
SIBLINGS – Pravin Rupan i
CHILDREN – Two sons and one daughter ( Rushabh Rupani, Pujit Rupani and Radhika Rupani )
EDUCATION –
- Bachelor of Arts from Dharmendrasinhji Arts College
- LLB from Saurashtra University.
POLITICAL AFFILIATIONS/PARTY – Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
OFFICIAL WEBSITE – www.vijayrupani.in
REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT –
- He won the bypoll on 19 October 2014 by a huge margin.
- He was inducted as minister in the first cabinet expansion by Chief Minister Anandiben Patel in November 2014 and held the ministry of transport, water supply, labour and employment.
- On 19 February 2016, he became the state BJP president.
AWARDS–
- He was awarded the Shashan Ratna award in Mumbai on the auspicious occasion of Paryushan.
- He also received the State of States award from the Vice President of India in a conclave at Delhi.
BACKGROUND– Vijay Ramniklal Rupani is an Indian politician from the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is serving as Chief Minister of Gujarat since 7 August 2016 and is a member of the Gujarat Legislatative Assembly representing Rajkot West.
UPBRINGING AND EDUCATION– Vijay Rupani was born to Mayaben and Ramniklal Rupani, in Myanmar to a Jain Bania family. He was the seventh and youngest son of the couple. His family moved to Rajkot in 1960 due to political instability in Burma. He studied Bachelor of Arts from Dharmendrasinhji Arts College and LLB from Saurashtra University. He had also worked as a stock broker in his father’s trading firm.
WALK OF LIFE– He is a politician and a businessman. He is the 16th chief minister of Gujarat. He has been always remained dedicated towards the R.S.S. He was a born leader, though he was elected as the General Secretary of the Student Union in his College. In 1976, he joined the people’s movement and jailed himself for a year during the emergency.
MAJOR INITIATIVES TAKEN– He launched a welfare scheme for farmers with seven components designed for their overall development. The seven components include cow-based organic farming, economic upliftment of farmers, adoption of new crop varieties and distribution of agri- equipment to small and marginalised farmers.
He Made the prohibitions on the ban of alcohol and hookah even more stringent by increasing the penalty and the sentence of imprisonment.
He Launched the “Seva Setu” program across the state. It was launched for the resolution of various issues at village levels sparing them from the compulsion of visiting taluka or district headquarters. This decision has been taken in the view of the four pillars of transparency, sensibility, decisiveness and progressiveness set by the state government.
CAREER TIMELINE/POSITION HELD– Vijay Rupani started his career as student activist associated with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and subsequently joined Jan Sangh in 1971. He has been associated with Bharatiya Janta Party since its establishment.
He was elected as a corporator of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) in 1987 and became the chairman of drainage committee. He became the chairman of standing committee of RMC from 1988 to 1996. He was again elected to RMC in 1995. He served as the mayor of Rajkot from 1996 to 1997. He became BJP’s Gujarat unit general secretary in 1998 and served as the chairman of manifesto committee during chief minister ship of Keshubhai Patel. He was appointed as a chairman of Gujarat Tourism in 2006. He was a member of Rajya Sabha from 2006 to 2012. He served as BJP’s Gujarat unit general secretary four times and chairman of the Gujarat Municipal Finance Board in 2013 during the chief minister ship of Narendra Modi.
In August 2014, when Vajubhai Vala, the incumbent speaker of Gujarat Legislative Assembly, resigned as the MLA from Rajkot West. Vijay Rupani was nominated by the BJP to contest his vacant seat. He won the by poll on 19 October 2014 by a huge margin.
He was inducted as minister in the first cabinet expansion by Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.
On 19 February 2016, Rupani became the state BJP president, replacing R.C Faldu. He was the BJP state president from February 2016 to August 2016.
He succeeded Anandiben Patel and was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on 7 August 2016.
CONTROVERSIES– In 2011, Vijay Rupani HUF entity sold shares worth about ₹ 35000 in Sarang Chemicals in a single transaction which were purchased in 2009 at about ₹ 63000, making a loss. The SEBI, the regulator, had charged 22 entities, including Vijay Rupani HUF, for “manipulative trades” by pump and dump. In November 2017, the SEBI issued ex parte order imposing a penalty of ₹ 1500000 to Vijay Rupani HUF for creating misleading appearance in the stocks. Vijay Rupani HUF said that the penalty was imposed without giving opportunity to be heard. The SEBI said that the entity had failed to file reply to their show cause notice in time. Later the Securities Appellate Tribunal set aside the penalty order and asked the SEBI to issue fresh order and hear all the entities.