NEW DELHI: Amit Shah's elevation as the BJP president is a reflection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's growing hold over the affairs of the party, and the coming months are likely to see the party exert to consolidate the gains in the Lok Sabha elections and extend its reach in areas where it is weak.
Shah, 49, was rewarded with the Bharatiya Janata Party's top post for steering the party in Uttar Pradesh where it did better than its own expectations in the Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats from the most populous state, with two seats being won by its ally Apna Dal.
Shah, who as general secretary was given charge of the party's affairs in Uttar Pradesh almost a year before the Lok Sabha elections, displayed his organisational abilities by invigorating the party, identifying winning candidates, working out caste combinations, tightening booth-level management and strategising the issues.
His relationship with Modi goes back to the 1980s, and he emerged as his close confidant over the years, serving him in various ministerial capacities when Modi was the Gujarat chief minister.
Shah's rise in national politics has followed Modi's spectacular rise in the BJP in the past year.