Zee Media Bureau/Biplob Ghosal and Deepak Nagpal
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party`s parliamentary board on Wednesday approved the elevation of Amit Shah - Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s close aide and general secretary – as national president of the party.
The announcement to this regard was made by outgoing BJP president and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at a press conference here.
Also present at the presser were Amit Shah, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, veteran leader LK Advani, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj among others.
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Rajnath informed that the parliamentary board approved Amit Shah`s name for BJP national president unanimously.
"From now and now on, Amit Shah will be the president of the BJP and lead the party. His appointment was approved unanimously," he said.
Shortly after the announcement, Modi and Singh offered sweets to Shah while other leaders including Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Swaraj and Jaitley gave him bouquets.
Shah, who faces charges in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, is largely credited for BJP`s stunning performance in UP where it got 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats.
With Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Haryana scheduled to go to polls later this year, Shah will have a herculean task to bring the BJP into power in all the three states. While Maharashtra and Haryana are being ruled by the Congress, Jharkhand is being governed by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha under the leadership of Hemant Soren.
Recently, the Maharashtra BJP unit had advocated for Shah to handle the election campaign in the state.
Known to be a sharp political strategist, the former Gujarat home minister remains Modi`s most trusted political aide and master strategist.
Shah had served as the home minister of Gujarat when Modi was the chief minister.
Shah, who had a plastics and printing business, met Modi in the late 1980s.
It was earlier said that Shah, who is currently BJP`s national general secretary, may contest from Vadodara Lok Sabha seat that was vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who retained Varanasi constituency.
