Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President, Amit Shah, called the “Chanakya” of modern day Indian politics joined the Modi cabinet of ministers on Thursday. Though the department has not been announced yet but he’s likely to be given the Finance Ministry as the former Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is not the part of the cabinet anymore due to health problems. The party’s chief strategist Amit Shah was fielded from the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat and won by a margin of over 300,000 votes.
Shah is known as the mastermind behind the massive win of BJP in the lok sabha elections in 2014 as well as this year. He entered national politics in 2013, his organizational training and extensive travel across India helped him learn the finer points of cow belt politics. Apart from the lok sabha elections, the transformation of the profile of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh which for a long time was seen as a party of forward castes in the state is one of his biggest achievements to date.
Hence, replacing him in the party as the BJP President is something very crucial. According to the reports, BJP National General Secretary and a Rajya Sabha MP from Himachal Pradesh, JP Nadda is likely to take forward the role. The party had given charge of Uttar Pradesh to Union Health Minister JP Nadda in the crucial General elections where they successfully bagged 62 out 80 Lok Sabha seats. Apart from Nadda, another name in the running is Dharmendra Pradhan, who has proven his organizational skills in Bihar Lok Sabha elections 2014 and in Odisha in 2019. BJP raised from about 21.9 per cent in 2014 to 38.37 per cent in the state this year compared to ruling party BJD. BJP’s vote share in Odisha’s Assembly polls also raised significantly from 18.2 per cent in 2014 to 32.5 per cent in 2019.
The fight for the position is quite tough looking at the anticipated names. Both Nadda and Pradhan have proved their worth in the elections and it will be interesting to see who gets to play the President role in the BJP after Amit Shah.
