RSS men who turned it around
(Clockwise) Sunil Deodhar, Kailash Vijayvargiya, Sunil Bansal, Gordhan Zadafia, Suresh Pujari, Bhupendra Yadav, Himanta Biswa Sarma, VSatish
From Maharashtra to Odisha, these Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh spinmeisters have helped the BJP win big
█ Sunil Deodhar
Sunil Deodhar is an ardent RSS swayamsevak from Maharashtra. Starting his career as a schoolteacher, he later joined the BJP. He is the party’s national secretary and wasNarendra Modi ’s poll manager in 2014.
Asilent worker, he is mostly involved in organisation building, and was responsible for the huge victory that brought an end to the several-decades-long CPM rule in Tripura. He was in charge of Andhra Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls, and also went to West Bengal to oversee poll preparations and campaign in three constituencies. A polyglot, Deodhar is known to have picked up several dialects in Tripura, which helped the party make inroads into the tribal belt. He has already learnt Bengali and will, in all possibility, be the next in-charge for West Bengal. – JAYATRI NAG
Kailash Vijayvargiya
An RSS man from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, Kailash Vijayvargiya was handpicked by BJP National President Amit Shah.
Asix-time legislator, he had never lost an assembly poll. He was a minister in the Shivraj Chauhan government and was a Cabinet minister for 12 years.
Asmooth talker and an organisation man, Vijayvargiya, who is the BJP’s national general secretary, worked hard to build the party’s network in West Bengal, where it did not have a presence.
Vijavargiya was in charge of the BJP’s election campaign in Haryana in 2014. He has been in charge of West Bengal as an observer for the last year and a half, and travelled extensively to every corner of the state. –JAYATRI NAG
■ Sunil Bansal
Sunil Bansal’s graph bears a striking resemblance to PM Narendra Modi’s life and career. Both were full-time pracharaks before being inculcated into the BJP. From Rajasthan, Bansal was first appointed in UP to assist Amit Shah during the 2014 general elections. He also oversaw the BJP’s work during the 2017 UP Assembly polls. He was again asked to ‘help’ the BJP win UP, amid the alliance between the SP and the BSP . A workaholic, Bansal is known as the ‘spin doctor’ of the RSS, and is an interlocutor when a misunderstanding crops up with the BJP. Bansal drew up the strategy for UP 22 months ago to ensure non-traditional BJP vote banks became central government scheme beneficiaries. Many within the BJP scoffed, but Bansal reached out to lakhs of UP homes, converting them into BJP voters. – DEEPAL TRIVEDI
■ Gordhan Zadafia
Gordhan Zadafia once likened Modi to a scorpion sitting on a shivling. You don’t know what to do with him, he said. Following a break with Modi in 2002, he pursued other parties. However, in 2014 he got a call from Modi and returned to the BJP. He was given charge of UP this time. And he delivered in style, winning 60 seats for the BJP.
Atrained lawyer, Gordhanbhai says he worked systematically and scientifically. Without making much noise, he says, referring to his RSS training. He made a detailed list of all the schemes of the Modi government and, along with Sunil Bansal, reached out to people in remote villages. “It was my job and I delivered. I don’t want to be around doing photo ops,” he told Mirror from his modest home in Ahmedabad. – DEEPAL TRIVEDI
■ V Satish
V Satish, or Satish Velankar, is the BJP’s national joint general secretary (organisation) and in charge of western region, which includes Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa.
Under his watch the party won all 25 seats in Rajasthan, all 26 in Gujarat 23 out of 25 in Maharashtra and one in Goa.
After graduating in political science, Satish became an RSS pracharak in the 1970s and was deputed in Karnataka. Subsequently he was sent on deputation to ABVP and in 2000 he was sent to BJP as organisational secretary. As an ABVP full timer he worked in the North-East and can speak Kannada, Bengali, Assamese, apart from Marathi, Hindi and English.
Though eloquent in various languages, he is a man of few words and avoids contact with journalists. And always answers journalists in monosyllables. — MAKARAND GADGIL
■Himanta Biswa Sarma
Himanta Biswa Sarma is known as the kingmaker in Assam and North East. A close aide of former Chief Minister of Assam and Congress leader Tarun Gogoi, Sarma switched to BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls after he fell out with Gogoi. With a huge reach in Assam and New Delhi, a man with very down to earth attitude was made in-charge of three constituencies in the last phase of West Bengal Lok Sabha polls. He participated in poll campaigns in Bengal and accompanied BJP state president in Midnapore as well. Here his vehicle was attacked by BJP goons. Sarma was also instrumental behind the win in Tripura and Assam assembly polls. He had joined the BJP in 2016 and is the Deputy Chief Minister of Assam. Sarma was instrumental in all the change of guards in north-eastern states and BJP’s victory in those states. He was the MLA from Assam’s Jalukbari . – JAYATRI NAG
■ Bhupendra Yadav
Bhupendra Yadav is Amit Shah’s man Friday. Yadav does not have any RSS background. However he is a man Amit Shah blindly trusts and believes in. Shah who himself is a good grassroot networking person was impressed by Yadav’s killer instincts and poll strategies. Yadav was introduced to BJP and then scaled heights after he worked withNitin Gadkari at a junior level. Gadkari recommended him and Yadav was appointed to the Rajya Sabha.
When intense infighting took over the BJP in 2015 in Gujarat and chief minister Anandiben Patel was moved out to MP as governor, Yadav was summoned as the war room strategist. The BJP was believed to have lost the battle with patidar agitation and anti incumbency in 2017 in Gujarat. With a slender but crucial majority, Yadav ensured a BJP victory in Gujarat in the 2017 assembly elections.
■ Suresh Pujari
He started his career as a lawyer in 1986 and was elected Chairman of the Sambalpur Municipality in 1992. In the forefront of various social activities, he joined the BJP in 1995-96. He soon climbed the ladder to hold several important positions in the state party. He was nominated as one of the Vice-President of the state BJP in 2000 and then appointed the state unit’s President six years later.
Pujari contested the Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket from the Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency unsuccessfully in 2014. There were rumblings within the party when he was shifted to the neighbouring Bargarh parliamentary constituency this time. He was leading by a magin of over 60,000 votes over his nearest rival Mr.Prasanna Acharya (BJP) when last reports came in.
█ Sunil Deodhar
Sunil Deodhar is an ardent RSS swayamsevak from Maharashtra. Starting his career as a schoolteacher, he later joined the BJP. He is the party’s national secretary and was
Asilent worker, he is mostly involved in organisation building, and was responsible for the huge victory that brought an end to the several-decades-long CPM rule in Tripura. He was in charge of Andhra Pradesh for the Lok Sabha polls, and also went to West Bengal to oversee poll preparations and campaign in three constituencies. A polyglot, Deodhar is known to have picked up several dialects in Tripura, which helped the party make inroads into the tribal belt. He has already learnt Bengali and will, in all possibility, be the next in-charge for West Bengal. – JAYATRI NAG
■
An RSS man from Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, Kailash Vijayvargiya was handpicked by BJP National President Amit Shah.
Asix-time legislator, he had never lost an assembly poll. He was a minister in the Shivraj Chauhan government and was a Cabinet minister for 12 years.
Asmooth talker and an organisation man, Vijayvargiya, who is the BJP’s national general secretary, worked hard to build the party’s network in West Bengal, where it did not have a presence.
Vijavargiya was in charge of the BJP’s election campaign in Haryana in 2014. He has been in charge of West Bengal as an observer for the last year and a half, and travelled extensively to every corner of the state. –JAYATRI NAG
■ Sunil Bansal
Sunil Bansal’s graph bears a striking resemblance to PM Narendra Modi’s life and career. Both were full-time pracharaks before being inculcated into the BJP. From Rajasthan, Bansal was first appointed in UP to assist Amit Shah during the 2014 general elections. He also oversaw the BJP’s work during the 2017 UP Assembly polls. He was again asked to ‘help’ the BJP win UP, amid the alliance between the SP and the BSP . A workaholic, Bansal is known as the ‘spin doctor’ of the RSS, and is an interlocutor when a misunderstanding crops up with the BJP. Bansal drew up the strategy for UP 22 months ago to ensure non-traditional BJP vote banks became central government scheme beneficiaries. Many within the BJP scoffed, but Bansal reached out to lakhs of UP homes, converting them into BJP voters. – DEEPAL TRIVEDI
■ Gordhan Zadafia
Gordhan Zadafia once likened Modi to a scorpion sitting on a shivling. You don’t know what to do with him, he said. Following a break with Modi in 2002, he pursued other parties. However, in 2014 he got a call from Modi and returned to the BJP. He was given charge of UP this time. And he delivered in style, winning 60 seats for the BJP.
Atrained lawyer, Gordhanbhai says he worked systematically and scientifically. Without making much noise, he says, referring to his RSS training. He made a detailed list of all the schemes of the Modi government and, along with Sunil Bansal, reached out to people in remote villages. “It was my job and I delivered. I don’t want to be around doing photo ops,” he told Mirror from his modest home in Ahmedabad. – DEEPAL TRIVEDI
■ V Satish
V Satish, or Satish Velankar, is the BJP’s national joint general secretary (organisation) and in charge of western region, which includes Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa.
Under his watch the party won all 25 seats in Rajasthan, all 26 in Gujarat 23 out of 25 in Maharashtra and one in Goa.
After graduating in political science, Satish became an RSS pracharak in the 1970s and was deputed in Karnataka. Subsequently he was sent on deputation to ABVP and in 2000 he was sent to BJP as organisational secretary. As an ABVP full timer he worked in the North-East and can speak Kannada, Bengali, Assamese, apart from Marathi, Hindi and English.
Though eloquent in various languages, he is a man of few words and avoids contact with journalists. And always answers journalists in monosyllables. — MAKARAND GADGIL
■
Himanta Biswa Sarma is known as the kingmaker in Assam and North East. A close aide of former Chief Minister of Assam and Congress leader Tarun Gogoi, Sarma switched to BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls after he fell out with Gogoi. With a huge reach in Assam and New Delhi, a man with very down to earth attitude was made in-charge of three constituencies in the last phase of West Bengal Lok Sabha polls. He participated in poll campaigns in Bengal and accompanied BJP state president in Midnapore as well. Here his vehicle was attacked by BJP goons. Sarma was also instrumental behind the win in Tripura and Assam assembly polls. He had joined the BJP in 2016 and is the Deputy Chief Minister of Assam. Sarma was instrumental in all the change of guards in north-eastern states and BJP’s victory in those states. He was the MLA from Assam’s Jalukbari . – JAYATRI NAG
■ Bhupendra Yadav
Bhupendra Yadav is Amit Shah’s man Friday. Yadav does not have any RSS background. However he is a man Amit Shah blindly trusts and believes in. Shah who himself is a good grassroot networking person was impressed by Yadav’s killer instincts and poll strategies. Yadav was introduced to BJP and then scaled heights after he worked with
When intense infighting took over the BJP in 2015 in Gujarat and chief minister Anandiben Patel was moved out to MP as governor, Yadav was summoned as the war room strategist. The BJP was believed to have lost the battle with patidar agitation and anti incumbency in 2017 in Gujarat. With a slender but crucial majority, Yadav ensured a BJP victory in Gujarat in the 2017 assembly elections.
■ Suresh Pujari
He started his career as a lawyer in 1986 and was elected Chairman of the Sambalpur Municipality in 1992. In the forefront of various social activities, he joined the BJP in 1995-96. He soon climbed the ladder to hold several important positions in the state party. He was nominated as one of the Vice-President of the state BJP in 2000 and then appointed the state unit’s President six years later.
Pujari contested the Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket from the Sambalpur Lok Sabha constituency unsuccessfully in 2014. There were rumblings within the party when he was shifted to the neighbouring Bargarh parliamentary constituency this time. He was leading by a magin of over 60,000 votes over his nearest rival Mr.
