When Union Home Minister Amit Shah released the BJP manifesto in Mumbai on 10 November 2020, two senior leaders of the party chose to sit in the audience rows instead of being on the stage. Well, this was not the first time, but this has always been the style of two Union Ministers, Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnav. Both of them served as in-charge and co-in-charge respectively of Maharashtra elections for BJP. He speaks very little and has a tendency to work behind the scenes. Both of them camped in Mumbai for several weeks to ensure that the BJP’s strategy was implemented at the ground level. Along with this, those who are angry can also be brought along. After the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, BJP had made both of them in-charge of Maharashtra in June. Campaign strategists-cum-managers have once again proved their capability by putting Madhya Pradesh in the party’s kitty.
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Did wonders in Madhya Pradesh
BJP sees Yadav and Vaishnav as giving the best strike rates in government and as political strategists. Yadav has a long history as an election strategist. While he won big states like Uttar Pradesh for the BJP, Vaishnav has come into limelight after winning Madhya Pradesh for the party as co-in-charge. In fact, this is the same ‘hit team’ of Yadav and Vaishnav that was given the responsibility of Madhya Pradesh last year, when the party was looking to consolidate its position in the state after ruling it for almost two decades. Many political pundits were predicting more than 60 seats for BJP in Madhya Pradesh also at the beginning of the campaign. But ultimately BJP came to power in the state with a huge majority of 163 seats out of total 230 assembly seats.
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The strike rate of the hit pair is unmatched even in Maharashtra.
After the party’s embarrassment in the Lok Sabha elections, the same team was again given the responsibility of Maharashtra. Maharashtra results are reminiscent of Madhya Pradesh’s victory. In the 288-seat assembly, NDA has crossed 215 seats in Maharashtra. Maharashtra is indeed a huge victory. Senior BJP leaders believe that Yadav and Vaishnav will still not be seen in a hurry to take any credit for the victory. The party feels that the warlords have won considering Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal on the ground and his hit slogan ‘Ek hain to safe hain’. But some key inputs like uniting the OBCs, promising loan waiver for farmers and promoting the campaign on ‘Girl Sister Scheme’ proved decisive for the party. It is said that he has been promoted by the Yadav-Vaishnav duo.