After being in a busy ministerial post for nearly five years, former Chief Minister of Gujarat, Mr Vijay Rupani is visiting London with wife Anjali, to spend time with their daughter Radhika, son-in-law Nimit Mishra and grandson Shaurya.
Welcoming Mr Rupani to London, CB Patel, Publisher/Editor of Asian Voice and Gujarat along with Navnat Vanik Association (UK) and NCGO (National Council of Gujarati Organisations-UK) has organised a felicitation ceremony on Saturday 23 October, 2021 from 3:30-6.00 PM (BST) at the Navnat Centre in Hayes.
Born on 2 August 1956, at Rangoon (now Yangon) in Myanmar, to a Jain family from Rajkot, Mr Rupani has played different roles throughout his political career. He was the seventh and the youngest child of Shri Ramniklal and Mayaben Rupani. His family moved back to Rajkot in 1960 after the political instability in Myanmar.
He is a partner in Rasiklal & Sons, a trading firm, established by his father where he worked as a stockbroker. He married Anjali in Ahmedabad which was also attended by now Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The couple has a son; Rushabh, an engineering graduate, and a daughter, Radhika who is settled in London with family. They lost their youngest son Pujit in an unfortunate accident and have started The Pujit Rupani Memorial Trust charity in his memory.
Political career
Mr Rupani began his career as a student activist and RSS volunteer. He pursued a Bachelor of Arts from Dharmasinhji Arts College and Bachelors of Law from Saurashtra University. During college, he was active in Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad and later joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He has also been associated with Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) since its establishment. Mr Rupani was imprisoned for 11 months and was sent to jail in Bhavnagar and Bhuj during Emergency in 1976. He was a propagandist of RSS from 1971 to 1981and was elected as a Corporator of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) in 1987 andsoonbecame the Chairman of the Drainage committee. He became the Chairman of the Standing Committee of RMC from 1988 to 1996. He served as the Mayor of Rajkot from 1996 to1997 and visited Leicester as they wished Rajkot to be a twin city.
He became BJP's Gujarat unit General Secretary in 1998 and served as the Chairman of the Manifesto Committee during the tenure of Keshubhai Patelas the Chief Minister. He was appointed as the Chairman of Gujarat Tourism in 2006. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 2006 to 2012 andserved as BJP's Gujarat unit General Secretary for four times and as the Chairman of the Gujarat Municipal Finance Board in 2013 Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister.
In August 2014, when Vajubhai Vala, the incumbent speaker of Gujarat Legislative Assembly, resigned as the MLA from Rajkot West, and Vijay Rupani was nominated by the BJP to contest his vacant seat. He won the by-poll by a huge margin.
He was inducted as Minister in the first cabinet expansion by Chief Minister Anandiben Patel in November 2014 and led the Ministry of Transport, Water Supply, Labour and Employment. He succeeded Anandiben Patel and was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on 7 August 2016. On 11 September 2021, he resigned from the post and was succeeded by Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel.