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With much being speculated about who would succeed Narendra Modi as chief minister of Gujarat, questions remains as to what kind of challenges, both political and administrative, will the new state chief face. Will he or she be able to complete the dream projects initiated by Modi in respective time-frame, take quick decisions on administrative issues and effectively handle party related issues?
Experts believe that Modi’s successor was not likely to face hurdles in both politics and administration, as Modi has already created systems and policies with in the party and government, at least for the short term.
BJP believes that the new chief minister of Gujarat will not face any difficulties as he will be elected unanimously by the MLAs with out any favoritism or groupism. “There won’t be any challenge of problem for the new Gujarat CM as Narendrabhai (Modi) has already created systems for development of the state. He has to follow the same. The only challenge according to me is that he should be as hardworking as Narendrabhai and should be able to put in as much hours of work,” said BJP spokesperson Vijay Rupani.
According to Sebastian Morris, faculty member at IIM Ahmedabad, “The basic challenge for the new leadership in Gujarat would be to work together. Now, that the big man (Modi) is not around in the state, whoever is in charge won’t be a single authoritative person. He will have to work in a team and the challenge will be how they can get along.”
“Otherwise, in terms of projects implementation, more or less everything is in motion and not much would be required to do. However, the growth must come back, though that would mostly depend on the RBI and central government measures,” added Morris.
Social anthropologist and political scientist Shiv Visvanathan believes that initially the new chief minister will face the challenge of continuity. “The new CM has to be as charismatic as Modi because under him Gujarat has stayed in limelight. Initially he (new CM) will face the challenge of continuity that is keeping pace with which Modi took decisions,” Visvanathan said.
However, he feels that for the initial couple of years Modi would still be in control of Gujarat affairs, atleast to keep the state in news. “Other challenges before the new CM would be administrative as it is expected that some of the bureaucrats (trusted by Modi) would move to Delhi. Hence, there will be new team for Gujarat CM. Also, there could be challenge within the state BJP with Modi not around,” he added. On the fate of Modi’s dream project like the Statue of Unity, metrorail project between Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar, Dholear special investment region (SIR) and Dahej SEZ, Visvanathan opined, “Modi will make sure that the projects are completed (in time).”
Similarly, political observer and former professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Ghanshyam Shah, too believes that big ticket projects initiated by Modi would get central clearance soon.
"Big projects in Gujarat cannot be completed without support of the central government. Now, with Modi at the Centre such projects will get cleared soon in favour of the state," he said.
He was of the opinion that there would not be any major change in policy or programmes of the state. However, he saw tension between politicians and bureaucracy rising in the long run. "Modi government was run by bureaucrats. They knew what Modi wanted. In the long run there could be rise in tension between the politicians and bureaucracy," he added.
Shah saw other states becoming more competitive in the future with Modi in PM chair. "Since all states are competing with each other Modi may find it difficult to maintain neutrality," he added.
The professor lamented that fact that the change in leadership in Gujarat will hardly have any impact on the social indicators of the state. "Like today, social issues is not like to get much attention as there is no internal pressure from the BJP party to influence the state government to carry out social sector reforms or programmes," Shah said.
