Meet Sunil Deodhar, the BJP leader who helped saffron brigade vanquish Manik Sarkar's Left in Tripura

Meet Sunil Deodhar, one of BJP’s heroes in Tripura, who like many of his party men rose through the ranks of the RSS to eventually become a party backroom general

Unlike many of his political colleagues and rivals in Tripura, Deodhar was born and raised in Maharashtra before making his way to the northeastern state.

"The spectacular performance of the BJP in Tripura is because of the performances of the union ministries and because of the PM Modi's passion for the region. The BJP's wins in the Northeast is a result of the work that PM Modi has been putting in, and of the pioneering work of Atal Behari Vajpayee," Deodhar told DNA after the party's victory. 

"I have always been sure of winning 40 seats, given the input from the party workers. And if we look closely at the results, then the BJP would have easily won 8 more seats," he added.

According to reports, if the BJP’s score-card in Tripura is spectacular, he is the man of the match. “In the true style of the RSS, a single-minded worker you haven’t seen grand-standing on TV channels, or setting Twitter on fire,” the report added.

Deodhar joined the RSS in 1985 and in 1991 was posted as a pracharak in Meghalaya.

He started My Home India, an organisation that helps students from the Northeast across the country. In 2012, he was given charge of Dahod district in the Gujarat assembly polls and in 2013, of South Delhi during the Delhi state elections.

In the 2014 Indian general election, Deodhar was appointed as the campaign manager to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency of Varanasi. Following this, he was given the responsibility to handle Tripura in November 2014, a state where the party had no seats and a negligible presence. Deodhar had earlier spent eight years in Meghalaya understanding the northeastern society.

While talking about the party's rise in the state, Deodhar in an earlier interview with DNA said, "Faith cannot be created by money, it comes from people. There are two ways to win elections – by rigging, that was carried on here for the last 25 years, or, when there is an outcry from people. In Tripura, the CPM has never won elections honestly. There are instances of 25% polling by 2pm and then 97% by 9pm. People are not even allowed to go out of their homes. That alone proves that Manik Sarkar is is not an honest man."