Amit Shah to the rescue: How BJP MPs got rail fare hike rolled back

Just a day after Firstpost reported that BJP general secretary Amit Shah, who has emerged as the front runner in the race for party president, is growing rapidly in clout and stature within the organisation, it has emerged that when Maharashtra’s BJP and Shiv Sena MPs wanted to raise their concerns against the railway fare hike, it was Shah who helped them score a partial win. [caption id=“attachment_1538695” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Amit Shah. AFP[/caption] A report in Mumbai Mirror said the BJP MPs from the financial capital chose to first convince Shah of their contention that the hike could prove to be critical for the BJP in Maharashtra and Mumbai. “Shah then convinced Modi to speak to Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda, who along with the Railway Board top brass worked out a revision in the hike,” the report said. The BJP MPs from Mumbai – Gopal Shetty, Kirit Somaiya and Poonam Mahajan – are calling the rollback a major victory. They chose to voice their concern as soon as it became apparent that Uddhav Thackeray and the Shiv Sena would not shy away from embarrassing the senior alliance partner over the issue. BJP leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Coucnil Vinod Tawde was among the first to speak out: “Proposed rail fare hike is too taxing for Mumbaikars. We have requested Rajnath Singh to reconsider the proposal. He has assured he will talk to the railway minister, finance minister and the PM,” he had tweeted. Tawde was apparently among those who approached Shah first. On Tuesday, _Firstpost_ also reported that there was a growing clamour for greater responsibility for the general secretary who effected the BJP’s miraculous performance in UP in the general elections. While some of his supporters were making a pitch for him to be projected as the CM candidate in UP in 2017, others were backing him for party president. The announcement over who will take over the post is expected be made very soon.