New Delhi, Jan 4 (IANS) Ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive meeting in Guwahati Jan 8-9, party party president Nitin Gadkari stands tall amid the party rank and file, scoring highly in a survey for his "administrative and management acumen" that helped its remarkable success in the recent Bihar elections.
Despite being unknown outside of Maharashtra when he came to head the party in February 2010, Gadkari "has proved his worth many times", says the survey organised by The Pioneer newspaper and ORG Pvt Ltd.
This is the main finding of a survey on Gadkari's one year of stewardship of the BJP, conducted in eight states.
Among the qualities that have helped him to rejuvenate the party are "administrative and management acumen, strategic wisdom, systematic planning, grassroot level penetration, infinite patience and, above all, the success rate", says the findings of the survey.
The reference was to the BJP's wins in 91 of the 102 assembly seats it contested in Bihar in alliance with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
It was one of the best electoral performance by the BJP ever, anywhere.
More than three quarters of the respondents in Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal felt he was the best candidate for party presidency when he was appointed.
The highest approval rating for Gadkari came from Karnataka, which the BJP rules, followed closely by Congress-ruled Delhi. Surprisingly, the Left-ruled West Bengal and Kerala revealed "high approval ratings" for Gadkari, the Pioneer survey said.
Nationally, 74 percent supported the idea of Gadkari continuing as BJP president, now that he had "passed his first big test in north India with flying colours".
BJP cadres were satisfied with his leadership and felt he was destined to play a "very important role" in national politics.
But the survey warned that Gadkari's future "may not be a bed of roses".
"His acid test will be the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in about 18 months.
"In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP lacks effective leadership and its cadre is dispirited.
"The survey captured the least positive response in Uttar Pradesh on the level of satisfaction with Gadkari's contribution, with no response from over 60 percent respondents.
"Thus the challenge before Gadkari lies not only to turnaround and rejuvenate the party and fill up the vaccum with appropriate functionaries but also to project the BJP as the viable and preferred alternative.
"Whether he (can) successfully play the role of Pied Piper -- only time will tell."