Lucknow:
In a clear signal of Narendra Modi's growing influence within the BJP, his trusted aide
Amit Shah has taken charge of Uttar Pradesh today to manage and prep the state for the national elections.
Mr Modi was over the weekend chosen to lead the BJP's national campaign, sending the party into spasms, with its senior most leader LK Advani resigning in protest from all his BJP posts for 24 hours. He withdrew his resignation on Tuesday evening.
Mr Modi was reportedly kept informed about the details of the political storm in Delhi by Mr Shah, who was seen visiting the home of BJP chief Rajnath Singh at the peak of the controversy.
Mr Shah is expected to meet with nearly 50 senior leaders of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. During his two-day visit, he will examine the factionalism that has cost the party heavily in the last national election in 2009, the BJP won just 10 of the state's 80 seats.
Mr Shah was arrested in July, 2010 and released three months later. He was Gujarat's Home Minister in 2005 when the police killed Sohrabuddin Sheikh, a small-time criminal, in what was later established as a fake encounter. The police at the time had claimed that Mr Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi and a third person travelling with them to Gujarat from Andhra Pradesh were terrorists who planned to kill Mr Modi.
Mr Shah has been charged with murder, extortion and kidnapping and has been granted bail. He successfully contested the recent state elections in December.
Mr Shah's ability to revive the BJP in Uttar Pradesh will be seen as a measure of whether Mr Modi can play a large political role outside his home state.
There is speculation within the BJP in Uttar Pradesh about whether Mr Modi will choose to contest the parliamentary election from Lucknow, a seat once held by the BJP's iconic leader, Atal Behari Vajpayee.