PM Modi Praises Gujarat CM Patel For His ‘Integrity And Simplicity’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday praised Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel for his “integrity and simplicity” as he shared a news report on how the CM paid for the government’s air ambulance to ferry his son to Mumbai after he suffered a brain stroke.

The PM also prayed for the speedy recovery of the CM's son Anuj who is admitted to a hospital in the Maharashtra capital. 

“Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel has set an excellent example of integrity and simplicity in public life. I have faith and trust that his conduct will be an inspiration to millions of people active in public life. I pray for the speedy recovery of his son Anuj,” he said in a tweet in Gujarati.

Modi’s appreciation of Patel came in a reply to a news report shared by the Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Twitter. The ruling party praised Patel for “providing an example of the common man” by paying for the “government air ambulance service that took his son to Mumbai for treatment”.

Patel’s son Anuj suffered a brain stroke on April 30 and was rushed to Ahmedabad’s KD Hospital where he underwent surgery. On May 1, he was airlifted to Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai where he continues to remain under observation.

The news clipping shared by Modi praised Patel for paying for the government air ambulance and using a domestic airline to travel to Mumbai to visit his son.

The news report claimed that while the chief ministers of other states and their families use government aircraft for their personal use, the “soft-spoken and determined” Patel and his family have not used the government’s aircraft even once after he became the CM.

Patel replaced Vijay Rupani as the Gujarat CM in September 2021. He took oath for the second time after BJP won 156 of the 188 seats in the Assembly polls last year.