First Stint as Chief Minister of Gujarat

Times were turbulent in Gujarat with allegations of corruption and poor governance doing the rounds. After Shankarsingh Vaghela left the BJP, Keshubhai Patel was made Chief Minister of Gujarat and Modi became General Secretary of the party in Delhi. Weak handling of the effects of the Bhuj Earthquake in 2001 prompted the BJPs national leaders to seek a new candidate as chief minister, after the removal of Keshubhai Patel. In October 2001, Modi was brought in to fill the vacuum and made Chief Minister of Gujarat despite his lack of experience in governance. Initially, the BJP was not very keen on having him at the forefront and the party was contemplating the position of deputy CM for him, which he refused. He wrote to Advani, and the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, stating that he was either going to be fully responsible for Gujarat or not at all. In July 2007, he became the longest-serving Chief Minister in Gujarats political history.In the Gujarat legislative assembly elections of 2012, Narendra Modi won the constituency of Maninagar over the Indian National Congress, with a majority of 86,373 votes. The BJP won 115 out of the 182 seats and formed its government in Gujarat. This was Narendra Modis fourth term as the Chief Minister. The following year in March, he was appointed as member to the BJP Parliamentary Board which is the highest decision-making body of the party. He was also nominated as a member of the partys Central Election Committee.