Former Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani among those killed in Air India crash, was on his way to London to meet daughter

Indian Express

a day ago

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was among the people who lost their lives in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on Thursday. The 69-year-old, who was on board the ill-fated AI 171 that crashed minutes after taking off, was flying to London, where his daughter is based. His entire family had flown to London, and the former CM was on his way to join them.
'This is a very sad incident. My heart goes out to the victims and their families. We have lost two-time former chief minister Vijay Rupani in the crash, which is very sad news for the BJP family,' Union Minister and state BJP president C R Paatil told reporters in Ahmedabad.
Rajkot City BJP vice president Kashmira Nathwani, who was among those at Rupani's home in Rajkot, told The Indian Express, 'I spoke to Anjaliben (Vijay Rupani's wife) just two days back. She told me that Vijay bhai would be joining them and then she would return with him at the end of this month'.
Rupani who served the state twice as CM before being replaced by incumbent Bhupendra Patel in September 2021 was the party in-charge for Punjab at the time of his demise. Hailing from Rajkot in Gujarat's Saurashtra region, Rupani started his political career by joining the RSS's students wing ABVP in 1973. He was first elected to the Rajkot Municipal Corporation in 1987 and went on to become the mayor of Rajkot city. A former stockbroker, Rupani also served as the chairman of the Saurashtra-Kutch Stock Exchange Limited.
A committed party worker, Rupani held several top organisational posts in the state BJP, including general secretary, spokesperson, and eventually state president. In 2006, Rupani was also elected the BJP's Rajya Sabha MP.
In October 2014, months after the BJP stormed to power nationally, the BJP fielded Rupani in an Assembly bypoll from the Rajkot (West) seat, a seat considered a BJP bastion and one Prime Minister Narendra Modi had contested from when he first entered the Gujarat Assembly in 2001. Rupani was subsequently inducted into the state government as a Cabinet-rank minister for various departments, including water supply and labour, and employment.
As his political star rose, Rupani became the state BJP president within the next two years. The same year, after Anandiben Patel resigned as CM in the aftermath of the Patidar quota stir, Rupani replaced her as CM in August 2016. Rupani's appointment was done in controversial circumstances following a marathon meeting at party state headquarters Shree Kamalam in the presence of top party leaders, including Patel and Amit Shah. At that time, senior BJP leader Nitin Patel was also named as Deputy Chief Minister.
Rupani faced the biggest political challenge in the Assembly elections of December 2017. The party did face a scare, but Rupani managed to win enough seats to retain power in the state. Rupani's four-year tenure in his second term as the CM passed without any major controversy, with the BJP winning all 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state in 2019 for the second consecutive time. It also saw the BJP retaining all eight municipal corporations in the civic polls. In the subsequent taluka and district panchayat polls also, the BJP regained the ground it had lost to the Congress five years ago.
However, in September 2021, Rupani resigned as CM. In an interview after that, Rupani told The Indian Express that he resigned within hours of being asked to do so and that he had neither asked for the reason nor was he given one.
After this, Rupani was given the first major responsibility in September 2022 when he was appointed as the BJP's in-charge for Punjab and Chandigarh. In December 2024, Rupani was deputed as the observer for the Maharashtra BJP Legislature Party meeting.
Rupani is survived by his wife Anjali, son Rushabh, and daughter Radhika.