Meet the new BJP president
When he was the UP chief minister -- from 2000 to 2002 -- Rajnath Singh banned beauty pageants. A decade earlier, when he was the state's education minister, he pushed for Vedic mathematics and wanted 'ignored' Indian leaders -- like RSS founder leader Keshav Baliram Hedgewar -- eulogised in school textbooks.
This was long before Murli Manohar Joshi embarked on his 'history rewrite' drive as human resource development minister.
And, Rajnath also introduced a landmark legislation in the state, making cheating in exams a cognisable offence.
Rajnath -- an upper caste Thakur from UP -- is also known for his alliance-building skills.
In 1997, when Mayawati withdrew support to the BJP government in UP, Rajnath cobbled together an alliance for Kalyan Singh by pulling quite a few Thakur legislators from the Congress. It was called Operation Shakti.
In Jharkhand last year, the quiet Thakur was sent to stitch together the coalition the BJP now heads.
And he is a far cry from the laptop brigade of Pramod Mahajan and Company, the prominence of which has ruffled quite a few feathers in the stiff-shorts RSS.
Image: (From left) Janata Dal-United leader Inder Singh Namdhari, Rajnath Singh, former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi, Karia Munda, and Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda outside the governor's house in Ranchi, February 28, 2005.
Also See: What should Rajnath Singh's priorities be?