Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani will consider himself lucky to have been bestowed with a second term.
The Chief Minister who was chosen to replace the insipid Anandiben Patel at the time the Patel agitation was at a high, also presided over an election in which the BJP has lost significant ground even though it managed to retain Gujarat by a margin of about nine seats, its lowest in many elections.
Rupani may continue to have the support of the party's "high command" but it is increasingly clear that he has been chosen only because of a lack of a better choice.
And this is a reality he will have to live with as he took the oath of office on Tuesday. His task is further complicated by the fact that the Government of Gujarat will have a more vociferous opposition not only because the Congress and others have higher numbers but also because those who have been elected especially among the opposition ranks are from a younger generation of leaders who are a different breed from the ageing ranks of those in power.
The next generation of elected leaders in Gujarat will seek to cash in on the apparent leadership vacuum created by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's elevation to Delhi.
Nonetheless, Rupani can, in all fairness, claim to have the mandate of the people and will have to keep in mind that he is now the Chief Minister of the whole state of Gujarat and not only of those who voted for the BJP.
He would be wise to lend a listening ear to the people of Gujarat many of whom are deeply riled at the policies of the BJP governments both in the state and the centre and have consequently refused to wholeheartedly support the BJP. This despite a reduction in nationwide rates of GST especially targeted at Gujarat which state coffers continue to pay the price for.
One hopes that Rupani can buck the national trend of sowing discord among communities for political gains and bring about an improvement in human development indicators in Gujarat and not rely on the boastful claims of his predecessors' much-touted Gujarat model, by keeping people rather than industrialists at the centre of policy decisions.
If Rupani is to harbour any hopes of improving his own chances five years down the line, it will hinge on how exactly he can break away from being under the shadows of the Narendra Modi/Amit Shah combine, whose move to Delhi has certainly cost the Gujarat BJP.
A word also for the younger leaders of Gujarat especially Jignesh Mewani, for whom being in the opposition offers a far greater opportunity than being in government would and could possibly help him pole vault into the national political space as a fiery contender to the current brand of 20th-century politicians.
