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| Shah is under pressure to deliver and it seems to have sunk in that he needs to change his track. Party men say it is happening. YouTube screen grab |
January 24, 2016, NewsCrunch
As Amit Shah is set to head BJP for a full three-year term, party insiders expect him to change his style of functioning and assume a consensual approach.
Amit Shah, who led BJP to a spectacular victory, along with Modi, was elevated as BJP president in 2014 to complete the remaining term of Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
He lost no time in alienating key sections of the party, who complained of his arrogance and unilateral approach, which relied more on a coterie than tested local leaders of states.
In Delhi, he ignored the claims of popular leaders like Harsh Vardhan and brought in an outsider, Kiran Bedi, to fight a crucial poll. More than the expected negative verdict in Bihar, it was the AAP sweep in the capital that stung him.
The Delhi defeat was particularly humiliating as it came at a time when the Modi aura was still shining bright.
Shah refused to change his approach in the Bihar and relied on a hand-picked team drawn from Delhi and Gujarat, ignoring local BJP leaders. R.K. Singh complained about candidate selection, Shatrughan Sinha was not even enlisted to campaign
After Bihar results, there was a mini revolt by the old guard - L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha - which had been kicked upstairs as margdarshaks.
Shah's second term would see tough assembly elections in Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat, and culminate in the 2019 general elections.
He is under pressure to deliver and it seems to have sunk in that he needs to change his track. Party men say it is happening.
He, of course with Modi's consent, recently allowed BJP Chief Ministers in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh to retain their preferred state unit presidents - Ashok Parnami, Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan and Dharamlal Kaushik, respectively.
The chief ministers - Vasundara Raje, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Raman Singh - wanted these incumbent presidents to continue and when they approached Shah they found him surprisingly receptive.
All the state presidents are strong allies of their respective chief ministers. Their continuation in the office would strengthen the CMs politically and increase their bargaining power vis-a-vis Shah and Modi.
This was exactly the scenario Shah worked overtime to avoid in his first term.
To agree to the CMs request for fresh terms for their party chiefs, Shah also had to overlook a strong preference within BJP to have just one term state presidents.
As The Hindu points out atleast in Rajasthan's case Shah was not comfortable with Ashok Parnami getting a fresh term as it clearly puts Raje beyond the reach of the central leadership.
When Raje was embroiled in the Lalit Modi controversy, BJP wanted her to quit, to blunt Congress campaign. But she had successfully rallied her MLAs and resisted Central pressure.
It was Ashok Parnami, as state party head, who had run her campaign, jumping the gun to give her a clean chit, and then by keeping MLAs on her side of the fence.
Accepting him as Rajasthan BJP president is the sign of Amit Shah 2.0, say his party men.