Modi set to resign as Gujarat leader
India's Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi is due to step down as the chief minister of western Gujarat state.
Modi, who has ruled Gujarat for 12 years, led his BJP party to a landslide win in the recent election and will take the oath of office as India's new prime minister on 26 May.
Anandiben Patel, a senior Gujarat minister, is expected to succeed Modi, media reports say.
If that happens, Patel will become the first woman leader of the state.
Modi is expected to resign as the chief minister of Gujarat after attending a send-off organised by party legislators.
He will later attend a meeting of the BJP's legislature party where Anandiben Patel is likely to be chosen as his successor.
Patel, 72, has been a Gujarat government minister since 1998 and has built a reputation as a tough, no-nonsense administrator like Modi.
For years she has been seen as Modi's second-in-command, and has been in charge of a number of portfolios, including revenue, roads and buildings, disaster management, urban development and urban housing.
Gujarat is the only state in India where the BJP has been in power continuously since 1998 and won over half of the total seats in the last six elections.
In 2012, the party registered its fifth consecutive win in the state polls - its third under Modi.
Modi campaigned during the recent election on his record as a dynamic and efficient politician who has helped to make Gujarat an economic powerhouse.
But he also is accused of doing little to stop the 2002 religious riots when more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed - allegations he has consistently denied.
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