Amit Shah's big shoes to fill: Will Nadda run BJP on his own terms?

When Jagat Prakash Nadda was anointed working president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in June, the perceptions were manifold: One view was he came in as party President Amit Shah’s understudy, to be put through the mill and nurtured before a possible take over as head by the year-end when Shah’s term ends. “It’s not easy getting into Shah’s shoes. He took the BJP to undreamt-of heights, notching record (electoral) victories, and amassing unprecedented membership,” noted a BJP functionary, adding that in the current regime, even a seasoned organisational hand like Nadda is required to go through a boot camp. 

The second notion, sprouting from subterranean whispers, held that Nadda was the “choice” of the paterfamilias, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to “dilute” the “hegemonic” hold over the government and the BJP by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah. The theory — dismissed as “fanciful” and floated by former pretenders to top jobs — was rejected by most in the BJP. “The RSS is conveniently brought in to validate all kinds of arguments and trial balloons. The fact is together Modi and Shah have fulfilled the Sangh’s ideological agenda,” a source said.

Shah capped the speculation on September 21. Briefing BJP MPs and state organisational managers on the Gandhi Sankalp Yatra, he stated Nadda would take over his position “shortly”. Is the BJP on the cusp of change or will it move with the current of continuity?

A Rajya Sabha MP, who is part of Shah’s team, stressed that it was “impossible” to segregate Modi and Shah from the organisation even if another individual helmed it. “Modi is the thinker, Shah is the strategist, and Nadda will be the implementer,” he said. Did that imply that at 58, the soft-spoken Nadda would be a fill-in in perpetuity or could he transmute into his own person?

A state prabhari (minder), who won his spurs under Shah’s tutelage, adduced two reasons for why he did not expect a major transformation. “There may be a few changes in the organisation because vacancies have to be filled but Shah is a towering ideal for all of us. Any successor would have to work in close consultation with him. Modi and Shah go for continuity rather than departures. There’s an MP from the east whom the PM doesn’t particularly like but he had made him a minister. Likewise, with Shah. Those who were closely identified with his predecessors remained in his team and some were rewarded too.” 

Shah made Nadda an integral part of the discussions held before a coalition government was set up in Haryana, and in the prelude to forming one in Maharashtra. Nadda shortlisted candidates for the Assembly elections with state leaders before Shah and Modi vetted and ratified the names. He also campaigned extensively. “The idea was to familiarise the cadre with him,” a source said.  

A greater challenge before Shah was balancing the BJP’s delicate equation with the RSS that was periodically tested on economic issues or overwhelmed by the “personality” cult that the Sangh historically repudiated. At the sign of potential friction — as when the Hindu clergy became restive before the Ayodhya verdict — the BJP healed the breach. On October 9, Shah attended the Vishva Hindu Parishad-sponsored Chaturveda Swahakaar Maha Yagya ceremony, organised by the Ashok Singhal Foundation and the Jhandewalan Devi temple, to foster Vedic scholarship and shared the dais with RSS sarsanghachalak Mohanrao Bhagwat. Shah is expected to handle the Sangh and its constituents even after Nadda is installed.

Here is where the role of Bommarabettu Laxmijanardhana Santosh, the recently inducted general secretary (organisation), became critical. At 52, Santosh is the youngest occupant of a post that essentially entailed navigating the space between the BJP and the RSS. An engineering graduate from Karnataka, Santosh is fairly new to Delhi. He was Bhagwat’s pick for the post, which was held by Ramlal for 14 years. Veterans like V Satish and Saudan Singh were passed over for the job.  

“Santoshji is modern. The first thing he did was to get on Twitter and express his opinion on political developments,” a source said, something the media-shy Ramlal never did. In a tweet, Santosh took a swipe at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s spouse who advised the government to glean lessons for the economy from P V Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh. “Mr Parakala Prabhakar of yester years comes out suddenly,” he remarked.

Santosh wielded clout as organisational secretary in Karnataka — he had Lok Sabha MP Nalin Kateel appointed Karnataka party chief, was responsible for the induction of K S Eshwarappa and C T Ravi in B S Yeddyurappa’s government, and for getting a Lok Sabha ticket for Hindutva firebrand Tejasvi Surya from Bengaluru South. 

In the final reckoning, the BJP’s assessment was while Nadda might remain in the shadows, Santosh could be the go-to person.
 

Shah’s team members

Bhupender Yadav: General secretary who was put in charge of key states like Maharashtra. A lawyer and mentored by the late Arun Jaitley, he gives the party legal inputs

Anil Jain: A surgeon from UP’s Firozabad. He was associated with the RSS’ Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. As general secretary, he was Shah’s eyes and ears in Haryana and the main conduit between the BJP and the JJP’s Dushyant Chautala

Om Prakash Mathur: Rajya Sabha MP and vice-president, he’s considered among Vasundhara Raje’s principal adversaries in Rajasthan. He is in charge of Jharkhand

Prakash Javadekar: A central minister who is seen as a neutral umpire in the event of intra-party disputes. He was in charge of Rajasthan and now of Delhi

P Muralidhar Rao: General secretary. The former ABVP and Swadeshi Jagran Manch activist has been entrusted charge of southern states

Ram Madhav: General secretary who is informally associated with J&K matters and mobilised to assess the reasons for the BJP’s poor showing in the recent BDC elections. Formally in charge of the northeast except Assam, over which Himanta Biswa Sarma holds sway.

Kailash Vijayvargiya: General secretary and Madhya Pradesh strongman who’s out of the state, minding West Bengal with former Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy

Anil Baluni and G V L Narasimha Rao: Baluni heads the media cell and Rao is a senior spokesperson. Both are Rajya Sabha MPs