While Modi toured, Man Friday Om Mathur ran the show in Gujarat

JAIPUR: When prime minister designate Narendra Modi said on Friday that he had spent only 50 minutes in his Vadodara after filing his nomination papers, he did not imply that his 5.7 lakhvote victory margin had come effortlessly.

While Modi was addressing rallies across the country, his man Friday, Om Prakash Mathur, held down the fort in the two seats from which Modi fought — and won — the elections, Vadodara and Varanasi.

The Gujarat state in-charge, Mathur remained in constant touch with Modi and prepared comprehensive data on voters with information on their profession, caste, age and telephone numbers. Party workers were divided into groups and assigned a page of the voter data. A ‘page pramukh’ was in-charge of reaching out to all voters mentioned in the page assigned to him or her.

The friendship between Modi and Mathur goes back to their days as Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh ( RSS) pracharaks, party leaders said.

When Modi first became the chief minister of Gujarat, Mathur was made the BJP’s state in-charge. Later, he became a Rajya Sabha MP and president of the Rajasthan BJP.

“When Modi was named the PM candidate, he put his faith in Mathur to handle Gujarat and his own seats,” said a BJP leader close to Mathur.

The efforts of Mathur and his team have paid off and are now likely to translate into a bigger role for him in the party.