Amit Shah Is India's New Home Minister; Here's A Look At The BJP Chief's Journey From Being ABVP Member To Becoming Second In-Command In Modi Cabinet 2.0

Amit Shah is the new Home Minister of India. The list of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Cabinet 2.0 was out on Friday. In a big reshuffle of the top three, while Rajnath Singh (former Home Minister) is the new Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman (former Defence Minister) is the new Finance Minister. But while speculation was rife that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah could be the new Finance Minister, he is now officially second in command in the new Modi government. This makes Amit Shah, 54, the official right-hand man of the Prime Minister. Narendra Modi Cabinet 2.0 Ministers And Portfolios: Amit Shah Gets Home, Rajnath Defence; Check Full Detailed List Of Ministers And Their Ministries.

Shah has served as the Gujarat home minister under Modi as the chief minister after he won the 2002 Gujarat Assembly elections. Under Modi as Gujarat CM, Shah held 12 portfolios -  Home, Law and Justice, Prison, Border Security, Civil Defence, Excise, Transport, Prohibition, Home Guards, Gram Rakshak Dal, Police Housing, and Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs. In Gujarat, his political career was mired by conspiracies including snoopgate and police encounters including those of Sohrabuddin Sheikh. Amit Shah Takes Oath As Union Minister in PM Narendra Modi's Cabinet.

Watch: The Big Ministers in Modi Sarkar 2.0

Amit Shah, a second year B.Sc from Gujarat University, began his political career in 1983 when he joined the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He then joined the BJP youth wing in 1987. In 1997, Amit Shah first became an MLA in Gujarat by winning an Assembly bypoll.

Amit Shah's entry into national politics formally began when he was appointed as the BJP President in 2014. Since then, there has been no stopping Shah. He played key roles in the party's sweeping victories in the state elections in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand. The BJP's performance in West Bengal in the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 has also been credited to Shah, who is seen as the big brain and planner behind the party's campaign in every nook and corner of India.

With Shah now having been appointed as the Minister of Home Affairs in India, it will be interesting to see what will be among the first decisions that he takes. For starters, National Register of Citizens (NRC) has been a top priority for Shah, one that he has actively spoken about in his rallies during the 2019 campaign. Will Amit Shah's success rate as MHA match his success rate as BJP President?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 31, 2019 01:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).