Master strategist Amit Shah gets his due

BJP general secretary and in-charge Uttar Pradesh Amit Shah has been crowned as the new chief of the ruling party. With his exemplary planning skills, the Gujarat strongman and Narendra Modi's close confidante proved his mettle as an ace strategist and crafted an unprecedented win for the party in politically important state of Uttar Pradesh. Shah's elevation in the party has sent a clear message that hard working and disciplined workers can rise in the party hierarchy by virtue of their merits.

Victory in Hindi heartland, reason for Shah's crowing:

Amit Shah, 50, shot to popularity among BJP cadres after the party secured historic 71 out of 80 Parliamentary seats from Uttar Pradesh under his leadership and planning. Shah's decision of forging new alliance with Apna Dal, with whom the BJP shared two seats, in the State helped NDA's tally reach 73. Bagging 73 seats from UP ensured the NDA doesn't end up thriving upon mercy of regional players like SP, BSP after coming to power.

With his organisational skills, Shah brought success for the BJP in bordering Bihar as well where the party forged alliances with the LJP and Upinder Kushwaha to score a staggering 22 alone and 31 out of 40 seats with allies and reducing the state's incumbent JDU government to a virtual naught.

Amit Shah’s elevation is a paradigm shift in BJP’s leadership

UP, Bihar and Gujarat put together, Shah's stamp was visible in half of the total number of seats the party won in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, driving the BJP to its best ever performance under the Modi-Shah combine. This increased the clamour across the party lines to chose Shah as Rajnath Singh's successor.

Youngest BJP president:

With his crowning, controversial yet politically suave Shah scripted history by becoming the youngest president of the party in which veterans have called the shots since its inception. This has shown a major paradigm shift in the party's leadership which now seems to be more than ready to trust youngsters over veterans.

RSS connection:

Most leaders in the BJP agree that Shah, who was associated with the RSS in his early days, has earned every bit of his success. Considered an invaluable deputy to any leader, he took less than a year to catapult himself from a Gujarat BJP strongman to the party's supremo on the national platform. Party insiders say the decision in favour of Shah was finally taken on grounds that his proximity to Modi would aid better coordination between the Government and the party, further strengthening the saffron surge.

Controversy's favourite child:

Apart from his political expertise, controversy followed Shah like a shadow and continued to haunt him until lately. Shah was accused of fake encounters involving Sohrabuddin Sheikh, Tulsi Prajapati among others during his tenure as Gujarat Minister of State (Home). He spent three months in the Sabarmati jail before securing bail in 2010. The bail cleared the hurdles in the way of Shah's imminent rise in the BJP where he enjoys complete trust and backing of Modi.

The former Gujarat Minister was booked for an alleged hate speech in UP during the poll campaign which was perceived by critics as a highly polarising. But leaving all controversies behind, Shah successfully achieved the task he was assigned.

With Amit Shah's elevation to the helm of the party Modification of the BJP has now completed given the fact that Shah and Narendra Modi are complementary to each other.