Bhupendra Yadav: Man in the Wings Who Made BJP’s Gujarat Victory

The BJP’s victory in Gujarat could be attributed to Bhupendra Yadav as much as it is to Amit Shah or PM Modi.

Bhupendra Yadav being commemorated by President Ram Nath Kovind.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@rashtrapatibhvn)

As per the results of the Gujarat Assembly Election that were announced on Monday, it seems like the BJP will continue its 22-year rule in Prime Minister Modi’s home state of Gujarat, after scoring a majority of seats.

And while Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP Chief Amit Shah will reap the maximum benefits of the win, one person who can take a major part of the credit is the man in the wings, Bhupendra Yadav.

Yadav, a member of the Rajya Sabha and the National General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party, was given charge of Gujarat with “immediate effect” by Shah earlier in April, where he replaced Dinesh Sharma, who then became the deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Yadav had earlier been selected as the BJP election in-charge for the Assembly Elections in Rajasthan in 2013, Jharkhand in 2014 and Bihar in 2015, reports India Today. While the BJP had struck out in Bihar, it had made sweeping victories in both Rajasthan and Jharkhand, under the watchful eye of Yadav, reports News18.

According to Economic Times, Yadav also played an instrumental role in the BJP’s victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections that took place earlier this year, which led Yogi Adityanath to become Chief Minister.

Yadav is said to take charge of all levels involved in the election campaign process for the BJP, the News18 report adds, and while he carries out his strategies from the wings, he is the main reason the party has done considerably well in the past several state polls since 2014.

His strategy is to focus on local factors. He would sit for hours with state leaders like the CM, the state president and deputy CM to decide which candidate should be fielded in which constituency. When these leaders would go on to address rallies, he would meet local workers for equally long, chalking out local strategy.

A senior BJP leader told News18

Adding that Yadav plays an instrumental role in every part of the campaigning process, the leader said: “If Amit Shah outlines the plan, Bhupendra Yadav carries it out,” according to News18.

Yadav has also been praised for implementing the 'Page Pramukh' strategy –which was thought up by Amit Shah – in which one person, on every page of a voter list of every polling booth of every constituency, is appointed as the BJP's ‘page pramukh’, the report adds.

(With inputs from News18 and Economic Times)