Shah, 51, who took charge of the party from now Home Minister Rajnath Singh, was elected unopposed at an event at the BJP headquarters attended by virtually all party leaders.
Published: Mon 25 Jan 2016, 10:36 PM
Updated: Mon 25 Jan 2016, 9:06 AM
New Delhi: Amit Shah, a confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was on Sunday elected the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president for a full three-year term, retaining the post he has held since the party took power in India in 2014.
Shah, 51, who took charge of the party from now Home Minister Rajnath Singh, was elected unopposed at an event at the BJP headquarters attended by virtually all party leaders. "Amit Shah has been elected unopposed," BJP leader Avinash Rai Khanna told the media as hundreds of party activists cheered Shah and raised slogans hailing him and the party.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who flew to Chandigarh to receive French President Francois Hollande, was not present. But he congratulated Shah, and said he was confident the party "will scale newer heights under his leadership". "Amit bhai combines grassroot-level work and rich organisational experience which will benefit the party immensely," said Modi, who is said to count Shah as one of his most trusted aides.
Rajnath Singh added: "He (Shah) has been an extremely successful party president. I am confident the BJP will continue its forward march under Shah's stewardship and reach newer heights of success and glory." Besides Modi, the two other notable absentees from the BJP event were former party presidents L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who are known to be unhappy with Shah's style of functioning.
But the stage erected at the party office was crowded with visibly happy BJP leaders including another former president, M. Venkaiah Naidu. Many garlanded Shah and offered him bouquets. So did numerous party activists.
Shah did not address the gathering or speak to the media.
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