Newsmaker: Meet Sunil Bansal, BJP's spin doctor in Uttar Pradesh

According to reports, Bansal is now being considered for a much bigger role in Rajasthan, ahead of the assembly polls

Sunil Bansal, BJP President Amit Shah’s man in Uttar Pradesh, keeps a low profile, both in the real and cyber worlds, much in the way his mentor does.

As BJP organisation general secretary (sangathan mantri) in Uttar Pradesh, Bansal, under Shah’s tutelage, is credited with scripting the party’s spectacular success in the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 Assembly elections. 

The saffron outfit’s stock went up, but gradually this forced the opposition to forge a larger anti-BJP front ahead of the 2019 parliamentary elections.

The reticent leader is also perceived to be a parallel power centre in UP, a counter-weight to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, given the authority Bansal wields on vital party issues, including finalising candidates for polls or appointing key office-bearers.

Bansal became Shah’s Man Friday in UP in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The unprecedented victory in 73 of the 80 parliamentary seats in UP established Shah’s credentials within and outside the party, while clearing the decks for his elevation as BJP president. Concurrently, the win also cemented Bansal as the BJP’s “go to man” in UP for the workers and leaders alike.

Bansal, born in Rajasthan, had assiduously worked his way up the party hierarchy, starting with the students’ wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). In 2003, he was given the task of rebuilding the party’s organisation in UP. The party had slid to third slot — after the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) — in the 2002 Assembly elections.

Known for keeping to himself, as has been the characteristic of the Sangh parivar’s organisation men, Bansal spends much of his time in the party’s UP headquarters, situated in the vicinity of the Vidhan Sabha and the sprawling state secretariat.

His day is spent meeting party functionaries and grassroots workers and taking forward the central leadership’s core strategy. Prior to his UP role, Bansal, a former RSS pracharak, had served the BJP in Punjab.

Speaking at a book launch event in Lucknow last year, Bansal had said he was apprehensive of taking up the big task in UP, but Shah motivated him to take up the challenge.

However, after the recent by-election defeats in Gorakhpur, Phulpur, Kairana and Noorpur, his detractors within the party, although in hushed voices, have mounted attacks on him, questioning his organisational skills and functioning style. Yet, he continues to enjoy Shah’s confidence.

There have been reports suggesting that Adityanath and Bansal have at times differed on key appointments in government, with the latter prevailing on more than one occasion.

Bansal has started laying the groundwork in UP for the next big battle in 2019, when a combined opposition is reckoned to be putting up a stiff challenge to Modi’s re-election bid.

At the same time, rumours are rife that Bansal is now being considered for a much bigger role in Rajasthan, ahead of the  assembly polls by the end of the year, especially in the backdrop of recent by-election reverses and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje failing to reconcile different factions.

Indications are that Bansal will debut in electoral politics after successful stints in the organisation.