From Student Politics To Cabinet Minister, BJP's Kailash Vijayvargiya's Rise

Like many senior BJP leaders today, the party's national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya started his political journey in his youth with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Mr Vijayvargiya, 67, is the BJP's candidate in the Indore-1 seat, and the people of Madhya Pradesh will vote in the assembly election on Friday.

In the 2018 assembly election, the BJP won four of the five seats in the urban area of Indore, while the Congress's Sanjay Shukla won the Indore-1 constituency. Mr Vijayvargiya had been squaring off with the Congress MLA until the official campaigning deadline ended on Wednesday. He has said he is confident of unseating Mr Shukla.

Mr Vijayvargiya climbed the ranks in the BJP from his ABVP days to the Madhya Pradesh assembly, winning the state elections six times. He has been a state cabinet minister too. He is known for becoming the first elected mayor of Indore city.

The BJP national general secretary's online presence is spread across different platforms, including the workplace networking website LinkedIn, apart from having a personal website and accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Mr Vijayvargiya is known to have a keen interest in art, music and writing. It is common to see him singing in religious gatherings and writing blogs on his website and newspapers, his party colleagues say.

The BJP leader's Indore campaign was boosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's arrival in the city on Tuesday. PM Modi, on a chariot, passed through Indore-1, Indore-4 and Indore-3 constituencies, covering 1.5 km, as he was greeted by a sea of people.

Before PM Modi signed off on the BJP's Indore campaign, Mr Vijayvargiya had attended at least 25 rallies. The BJP leader has called the party's Madhya Pradesh manifesto "revolutionary", which will take the state in a new direction.

"It is a revolutionary manifesto, especially for farmers, youth, and women, and for the welfare of the common man and the middle class. One person from each family will be ensured employment. I feel this manifesto will give a new direction to the state," Mr Vijayvargiya said.