New Delhi: With the task of galvanising the BJP's organisational machinery to craft a return of the Modi government done, party president Amit Shah is set to combine his astute political mind with his delivery skills to help his mentor Prime Minister Narendra Modi implement his governance agenda in the next five years. Modi's decision to bring Shah in his cabinet signals that he will now play a crucial role in the government, effectively the go-to man for the prime minister, several party leaders believe. However, Rajnath Singh will remain officially the number two in the government, as made clear by him being the first minister to take oath after Modi. For all practical purposes, he has been the party's second most powerful leader after Modi since he became its president in 2014 after the BJP-led NDA assumed power.

Shah made his debut in Lok Sabha with a massive win from Gandhinagar, a seat earlier represented by BJP veteran L K Advani. Shah (54) was a crucial aide to Modi during his near 13-year-old reign as Gujarat chief minister between 2001-14, holding the powerful home portfolio during which he also got embroiled in a case of alleged fake encounter. He was discharged from it. Though his organisational skills are much-storied since he delivered 71 of 80 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh in 2014, prompting Modi to call him "man of the match" of the BJP's win in that general election, BJP leaders say he was also instrumental in executive a number of welfare policies of the party's government in Gujarat.