New Delhi/Ahmedabad: As BJP chief Amit Shah arrived in Delhi late Wednesday night to a huge welcome at the airport by party stalwarts, marking Shah's completion of three years as party chief on the same day that he was elected to the Rajya Sabha, all eyes will be on his debut performance in parliament after remarkable poll strategies won the BJP and the NDA, governments in 18 of India's 29 states.
The 52-year-old leader formally resigned Wednesday as a legislator from Gujarat and at a party felicitation in Gandhinagar said it was a special day for him as he began a new innings representing his state in the Upper House of Parliament.
Although there is intense speculation he will become a member of the cabinet in the Narendra Modi government, the BJP chief said he would not be a minister. In fact, eyeing states like West Bengal, Kerala and Odisha, Shah openly pledged to better the BJP's 2014 track record in 2019, when PM Modi will seek a second term. Pointing to his own success, Shah had told party workers in Haryana, only a week ago,: "I'm giving my example. I was a booth worker. I began by plastering posters. Without any political background, I've been made the chief of the world's biggest party."
However, the Gujarat RS polls showed a chink in his armour when he could not best Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's political aide Ahmed Patel, who too returned to Delhi last night to a huge welcome, after he won in a contest that pitched these two master strategists against each other.
The difficulty with which Ahmed Patel, a seasoned Gujarat politician, won his seat amid defections and cross-voting, also exposed the weakness of the Congress months before assembly elections in Gujarat, in which Amit Shah has pledged to win a record 150 of the state's 180 seats. "If we win 150 assembly seats in the December elections, then all three Rajya Sabha seats will come to us next time," Shah told party workers. For Ahmed Patel, the mystery over his secret supporter could presage a split in the JD(U) whose legislator backed him , defying his party diktat.
"The morale of our party workers has skyrocketed after this win. With this victory, we will have to set a target of winning more than 125 seats in the coming elections. Our next target is to win the 2017 elections," Patel said. The Congress has been out of power in Gujarat for more than two decades.
