Amit Shah, who is credited with the Bharatiya Janata Party’s spectacular victory in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha election, was on Wednesday named the next party president.
Mr. Shah’s elevation marks the rise and influence of Gujarat in the ruling party after Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister. At 50, he is the youngest president of the BJP and his appointment marks a generational shift in the organisation.
A close confidant of Mr. Modi and a political strategist, Mr. Shah was unanimously chosen for the party’s top post at a meeting of its Central Parliamentary Board. He will succeed Rajnath Singh, who was picked by Mr. Modi as Union Home Minister. Mr. Singh resigned after a year-and-a-half’s tenure.
The meeting was presided by Mr. Modi and attended by the top BJP leadership, including party patriarch L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj. It passed a resolution, acknowledging the contribution of Mr. Singh in taking the party to the “highest point” in its history as it posted its best performance by getting a clear majority in the recent Lok Sabha election. Mr. Shah, a former Minister of State for Home in Gujarat, was named as an accused in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
