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CoverStory

Congress office wears
a deserted look post
results

Pradesh, Karnataka (which Congress had gained), Ra- benefit of BJP. When opposition was trying to hit the
jasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The results show that government on issues of unemployment, farm unrest,
the Chanakaya was a dot on the point. slow down in the economy, he suddenly brought in
Amit Shah combined BJP’s core planks of Hindutva nationalism in the wake of Pulwama attack and surgi-
and nationalism and set up a huge ground-level or- cal strikes.
ganisational setup to execute it. Little doubt that Modi He tied up in states like Bihar and Maharashtra
Tsunami and a much bigger saffron surge surfaced. to put allies at ease by giving them more seats than
The final tally of BJP was much larger than even 2014. the BJP. He maintained ties with Shiromani Akali
Known as an astute strategist, the 54-year-old Shah Dal though the party was going downhill. In fact, he
is often hailed as the BJP’s most successful president made it clear to those who were baiting for SAD that
for crafting its way to power states after states and is he respects its senior leader Parkash Singh Badal and
called the Chanakya of BJP. the alliance would continue. And when reports of
Many as something that would be difficult to repeat dissension with the Janta Dal(United) emerged with
is already seeing the record tally that Amit Shah has the alliance, Shah met Nitin Kumar and announced
delivered for the BJP in the Lok Sabha 2014 and 2019 that both parties will contest equal number of Lok
elections. Shah has built his party into a a formidable Sabha seats in Bihar, virtually conceding the senior
army that has been forever marching on since he took status to the regional party within the state. Similarly,
charge as its president in July 2014, turning India more in Maharashtra, where Shiv Sena had walked out of
saffron than it has ever been. In fact, almost the whole the alliance in the 2015 assembly polls, he offered a
of India has been saffronised, all thanks to Shah’s generous seat-sharing deal to the party for the all-im-
skillful mix of ideological firmness, unlimited po- portant Lok Sabha polls. He has always believed that
litical imagination and changing the narrative to the the allies would keep coming as long as the party is

tehelka / 15 June 2019 16 www.tehelka.com