Anandiben Patel to be next Governor of Madhya Pradesh
New Delhi, January 20: Former Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel will be the next Governor of Madhya Pradesh. Rashtrapati Bhavan announced her appointment in a tweet yesterday evening. Currently, Gujarat Governor OP Kohli is holding the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh Governor.
Anandiben Patel was the first woman to become the Chief Minister of the Gujarat. She succeeded PM Narendra Modi when he moved on to Delhi as the CM of Gujarat.
In 1994, Anandiben Patel was elected to Rajya Sabha from Gujarat and as an MP she represented India at the Fourth World Women's Conference held at Beijing, China in the same year. In 1998, Patel contested her first assembly election representing Mandal constituency after having resigned from Rajya Sabha. She was appointed as the Minister of State in the Keshubhai Patel government.
Later, she was given the portfolio of Education as a cabinet minister of Gujarat. To address concerns related to education, Anandiben Patel started 'Lok Darbar' during her first stint as an Education Minister.
She is the minister who has initiated the education department's flagship programme, "Shala Praveshosav" intended to increase enrolment in schools. This programme gave a boost to enrolment in schools.
In the 2002 and 2007 Gujarat Assembly Elections, Anandiben contested from Patan assembly seat; both times in the Narendra Modi regime. She emerged victorious in both the elections, and continued with the department of Education as a cabinet minister in her second term and was given the Roads & Building and Revenue portfolio during her third term.
Anandiben Patel contested the 2012 Assembly Elections from Ghatlodiya assembly constituency. She won with the largest victory margin in the entire state that was more than 1,75,000.
Anandiben Patel was sworn in as the 15th Chief Minister of Gujarat on 24 May 2014 after the incumbent chief minister Narendra Modi was elected as the Prime Minister of India. She resigns from her post in August, 2016 following allegations of mishandling of the law and order situation in the state.