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The BBC's Hindi Service editor Amit Baruah profiles Nitin Gadkari, the new president of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
After suffering a defeat in last year's general elections, the Hindu nationalist BJP has been looking for a new leader to put its divided house in order.
Nitin Gadkari's selection raised many eyebrows in a party that has been trying to rejuvenate itself. He was selected despite being an outsider - the dark horse among the contenders.
At 52, Nitin Gadkari is the youngest ever president of the BJP.
The party's most high-profile leader, and former prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee is ill and rarely seen in public. Former party chief Lal Krishna Advani is ageing.
A politician from India's western state of Maharashtra, Mr Gadkari is new to the hurly-burly of national politics but is considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu nationalist organisation and ideological fountainhead of the BJP.
'No remote control'
"Nobody can use a remote control to direct me," Mr Gadkari, dressed in a smart blue pullover and grey trousers, told the BBC during a recent interview at the party headquarters.
"It's sheer propaganda that I have been appointed party president by the RSS."
The RSS has been banned three times by the Indian government in the past - once after the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi in 1948 and another time after the demolition of a disputed mosque in the northern city of Ayodhya in 1992.
The bans were put in place for the alleged support of Hindu militancy by the RSS - a charge the group denies.
Mr Gadkari describes himself as a "social entrepreneur".
He has served as a state minister for public works in Maharashtra and he is also a businessman. He says his factories, including a big sugar mill, employ nearly 5,000 people.
So what are his priorities as party president?
"Politics is an instrument of socio-political reform," Mr Gadkari said, adding that the poorest of the poor had to be helped first.
"Our first priority should be to stop suicides by farmers in the country.
"Everything should not be linked to political success. We have to change the face of the country."
Mr Gadkari told the BBC that he would like to focus his political energies on the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Haryana in order to boost the electoral strength of the BJP.
Uttar Pradesh, the northern state that sends the largest number of legislators to parliament and which was critical to the BJP forming national governments in 1998 and 1999, will be another area of focus.
Mr Gadkari seemed prepared to woo Muslim voters in what could be a departure from past practice.
The majority of India's 160 million Muslims continue to regard the BJP as a party that cannot be trusted; this is a problem that the party still has to resolve.
Mr Gadkari said both Hindus and Muslims in India "share a common heritage".
He accuses the Congress of using Muslims as a "vote bank" and asks what the Indian Muslim had got from the party's 56 years in charge of the country.
"We are against terrorism. We are not against Muslims," he said.
'Unfortunate riots'
Mr Gadkari conceded that the February 2002 Gujarat riots - in which 1,044 people, the vast majority of them Muslims, were officially listed as killed - were "unfortunate".
In the same breath, he defended the controversial chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, who headed the state administration at the time of the riots.
"It's unfortunate that attempts are being made to defame Mr Modi," he said.
Turning to foreign affairs, Mr Gadkari was unconvinced that the trial by Pakistan of those involved in the November 2008 Mumbai (Bombay) attacks was credible.
He said Pakistan should hand over to India those arrested for the Mumbai attacks.
The globe-trotting Mr Gadkari has never visited neighbouring Pakistan.
"I am willing to go to Pakistan if invited," he said, adding that he supported improved relations with Pakistan provided militancy directed at India was ended.
What about China? Did he view China as a bigger threat than Pakistan to India?
"China is our neighbour... Both are countries that are developing. If we are together, both will benefit," he said.
At the same time, he wanted India to have a clear approach on "small issues" like the state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is territory claimed by China.
There is little doubt that Mr Gadkari has been handed the presidency of the party at a crucial time.
An ascendant Congress party, under the active stewardship of the Gandhi family, poses a long-term threat to the BJP.
In all likelihood, Congress party general secretary Rahul Gandhi will lead his party's 2014 campaign for the parliamentary elections.
And if the Congress and its allies are in a position to form the government, Mr Gandhi will be the country's new prime minister.
Time will tell whether Mr Gadkari be able to torpedo the Congress and Rahul Gandhi's ambitions.
BBC News - Nitin Gadkari: India's new BJP leader
After suffering a defeat in last year's general elections, the Hindu nationalist BJP has been looking for a new leader to put its divided house in order.
Nitin Gadkari's selection raised many eyebrows in a party that has been trying to rejuvenate itself. He was selected despite being an outsider - the dark horse among the contenders.
At 52, Nitin Gadkari is the youngest ever president of the BJP.
The party's most high-profile leader, and former prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee is ill and rarely seen in public. Former party chief Lal Krishna Advani is ageing.
A politician from India's western state of Maharashtra, Mr Gadkari is new to the hurly-burly of national politics but is considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Hindu nationalist organisation and ideological fountainhead of the BJP.
'No remote control'
"Nobody can use a remote control to direct me," Mr Gadkari, dressed in a smart blue pullover and grey trousers, told the BBC during a recent interview at the party headquarters.
"It's sheer propaganda that I have been appointed party president by the RSS."
The RSS has been banned three times by the Indian government in the past - once after the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi in 1948 and another time after the demolition of a disputed mosque in the northern city of Ayodhya in 1992.
The bans were put in place for the alleged support of Hindu militancy by the RSS - a charge the group denies.
Mr Gadkari describes himself as a "social entrepreneur".
He has served as a state minister for public works in Maharashtra and he is also a businessman. He says his factories, including a big sugar mill, employ nearly 5,000 people.
So what are his priorities as party president?
"Politics is an instrument of socio-political reform," Mr Gadkari said, adding that the poorest of the poor had to be helped first.
"Our first priority should be to stop suicides by farmers in the country.
"Everything should not be linked to political success. We have to change the face of the country."
Mr Gadkari told the BBC that he would like to focus his political energies on the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Haryana in order to boost the electoral strength of the BJP.
Uttar Pradesh, the northern state that sends the largest number of legislators to parliament and which was critical to the BJP forming national governments in 1998 and 1999, will be another area of focus.
Mr Gadkari seemed prepared to woo Muslim voters in what could be a departure from past practice.
The majority of India's 160 million Muslims continue to regard the BJP as a party that cannot be trusted; this is a problem that the party still has to resolve.
Mr Gadkari said both Hindus and Muslims in India "share a common heritage".
He accuses the Congress of using Muslims as a "vote bank" and asks what the Indian Muslim had got from the party's 56 years in charge of the country.
"We are against terrorism. We are not against Muslims," he said.
'Unfortunate riots'
Mr Gadkari conceded that the February 2002 Gujarat riots - in which 1,044 people, the vast majority of them Muslims, were officially listed as killed - were "unfortunate".
In the same breath, he defended the controversial chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, who headed the state administration at the time of the riots.
"It's unfortunate that attempts are being made to defame Mr Modi," he said.
Turning to foreign affairs, Mr Gadkari was unconvinced that the trial by Pakistan of those involved in the November 2008 Mumbai (Bombay) attacks was credible.
He said Pakistan should hand over to India those arrested for the Mumbai attacks.
The globe-trotting Mr Gadkari has never visited neighbouring Pakistan.
"I am willing to go to Pakistan if invited," he said, adding that he supported improved relations with Pakistan provided militancy directed at India was ended.
What about China? Did he view China as a bigger threat than Pakistan to India?
"China is our neighbour... Both are countries that are developing. If we are together, both will benefit," he said.
At the same time, he wanted India to have a clear approach on "small issues" like the state of Arunachal Pradesh, which is territory claimed by China.
There is little doubt that Mr Gadkari has been handed the presidency of the party at a crucial time.
An ascendant Congress party, under the active stewardship of the Gandhi family, poses a long-term threat to the BJP.
In all likelihood, Congress party general secretary Rahul Gandhi will lead his party's 2014 campaign for the parliamentary elections.
And if the Congress and its allies are in a position to form the government, Mr Gandhi will be the country's new prime minister.
Time will tell whether Mr Gadkari be able to torpedo the Congress and Rahul Gandhi's ambitions.
BBC News - Nitin Gadkari: India's new BJP leader
