Headquarters Gandhinagar: A chosen few charting Modi’s course to Delhi

And Modi makes no apologies about that. If his Vibrant Gujarat summits are held in the shadow of that mound for one such summit,the conical structure was lit up to create the illusion of salt it is from the Swarnim Sankul building overlooking it that Modi is organising his own 900-km march to Delhi.

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On one of the floors of the four-storey building is the Chief Ministers Office (CMO),where 21 people are charting the course of that trek,in close cooperation with Modi. Every detail is discussed,from the conferences the CM will address,from professionals to niche communities outside Gujarat he will connect with,and from what he will say (at rallies,in person or on social media) to what he will wear.

The same day as Modi,a Z-plus-security VIP,was announced as the BJPs prime ministerial candidate September 13 baggage scanners came up at the entrance of Swarnim Sankul,along with a multi-layer security system.

K Kailashnathan,Sanjay Bhavsar and Hiren Joshi form the heart of Modis strategy team. The techie among them is Hiren Joshi (45),an officer on special duty,who sifts messages that Modi receives on social media or on his website and acts on them. Joshi,who hails from Rajasthan,was an IT professor in a college till six years back. He was picked up by the CMO to handle the technical department when Modi increasingly started using information technology, says a CMO official.

Modi begins his day with a meeting with Sanjay Bhavsar (50),who screens people who have put in requests to meet the CM and separates them as per those he should meet personally,or collectively in the CMO,or outside. A Gujarat Administrative Service cadre officer with a chemical engineering degree,Bhavsar served as the Ahmedabad deputy collector till 2002,when he got a call from the CMO.

Bhavsars actions are backed by inputs provided by Joshi, says the CMO official. Modi can be reached through a message up to 500 words on his website,and on any given day,Joshi shortlists 100 of the thousands marked to the CM. Modi then goes through the shortlisted messages personally,which may include invitations and meeting requests,and then,with the help of Bhavsar,prioritises the itinerary.

The CMO uses a special software that produces analytical charts mapping Modis time spent,to avoid unnecessary clutter and to ensure fair distribution, says an official. So care is taken that he spends time with people from all walks of life to cover the whole of India. So if there is one tour down south,the next will be in another part of the country with a different set of people.

The CMO official said they started looking at the big picture in June itself,when Modi was made the BJP campaign committee head,but have changed their approach drastically given his bigger profile now.

K Kailashnathan (60),a 1979-batch official,has virtually served as political advisor to Modi since the latter first took over as CM on October 7,2001. In May 2013,immediately after he retired as the additional chief secretary,Kailashnathan was appointed chief principal secretary to the CM.

Call it lack of encouragement or trust,but with no state leader being able to play this role,KK (as Kailashnathan is known) is seen as the closest lieutenant of Modi, says a top BJP leader. To him is attributed Modis metamorphosis from Hindu Hriday Samrat of 2002 to the CM-as-CEO of 2013.

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In 2011,the Gujarat government invited bids for a public relations firm for its Commissionerate of Information a department directly under Modi. One of the criteria was that the firm should have its headquarters in Delhi and an office at either Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar,and the goal was to position Gujarat as one of Indias leading states across sectors by enhancing top of the mind recall.

Kailashnathan,who has an excellent rapport with India Inc,was one of the key bridges between Modi and the industry,transforming the discourse on him from criticism at a CII event in 2003,to FICCI hosting Modi earlier this year. And it all happened through the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor Summits.

Kailashnathan is the son-in-law of the late T R Raghavan,founder of Keralas Elite Group. Modis connect with Kerala is mainly because of KK. Kailashnathan also helped bring around former Supreme Court judge Justice V R Krishna Iyer,who headed the Concerned Citizens Tribunal that put out a damning report on the 2002 riots. Today Justice Iyer backs Modi as prime minister.

Modis other PR coups have included the visits to his office by Rasoolan Bibiji,the widow of Param Vir Chakra winner Abdul Hameed,who died in the 1965 war,Gujarat tennis champion Ankita Raina,a string of Bollywood stars,and diplomats and politicians from India and abroad.

As a CMO source says,such meetings may seem small in nature but help in building Modis image as a youth icon when the BJP is heavily targeting voters below 35 years of age.

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Behind the Swarnim Sankul troika are other faces. Such as Modis soft-spoken personal secretary O P Singh,who hails from Rajasthan and has been with the Gujarat leader since 2001.

Tanmay Mehta,who has an RSS background,does most of the liaisioning work at the CMO.

The other constant at the CMO is Jagdish Thakkar,its PR officer. Thakkar is by Modis side all the time,scripting his events into media releases.

Outside the CMO,Parindu Bhagat,a chartered accountant rooted in the RSS and based in Ahmedabad,looks after the party funding and its management.

Vijay Nehra is the youngest and newest entrant at the CMO. A 38-year-old IAS officer with a post-graduate degree in chemistry,he was in for a surprise when he was removed as Ahmedabad district collector and posted as Joint Secretary in the CMO,looking after home (law and order) just ahead of KKs retirement. Last week he was made Chief Executive Officer of Metro Link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad,a pet project of Modi.

The seniormost babu in Modis office is Girish Chandra Murmu,Additional Principal Secretary in charge of the home portfolio. The IAS officer has been the trouble-shooter for Modi in the legal cases directly or indirectly involving him right from the 2002 riots to the fake encounters.

Secretary to the CM A K Sharma is the point man for industry and infrastructure-related projects and has been the face of Modi abroad.

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Another man who can claim to have played some role in Modis preparation for higher office is his designer,Bipin Chauhan. Modis stylist for the last 25-odd years,he claims to have sessions with Modi at his Gandhinagar residence at least three times a year,though the frequency has picked up lately.

Modi dominates the decisions on his personal style be it an Assamese gamcha combined with a track suit,a bandhni turban,a Kutchhi embroidered coatee or silver kadas like the ones worn by the shepherd community in Gujarat,to stoles,knitted tights and hand-stitched loafers and slippers chosen to mark the occasion.

Chauhan gives one specific example of Modis power dressing. At the Goa BJP National Executive meet earlier this year,which was set to mark his entry to the national stage,Modi ensured he would look different from the others. According to Chauhan,anticipating that everyone would turn up in jackets and finery,he went sober instead,in a simple yet elegant white kurta-pyjama.

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The networking curve from the CMO extends to the BJP IT Cell and Yuva Morcha,both in Gujarat as well as Delhi.

As they speak to the world though,all of the CMs men have one thing in common they themselves dont talk about their assignments.

Modi may be the one loudly seeking answers,but in the wannabe PMs own personal circles,the one trait valued highly is confidentiality.

with inputs from Lakshmi Ajay