It has been a long journey for 52-year-old Nitin Gadkari – from student leader to the youngest-ever president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP leader, who was until now the party chief in Maharashtra, proved his mettle as a successful public works department minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state 10 years ago. The Mumbai-Pune expressway is considered Gadkari's biggest achievement.
Though an "outsider" in Delhi circles — he admits to not having spent more than one night in the national capital his entire life — Gadkari is known as a forward-looking visionary. Sources in the party claim that Gadkari became the hot favourite for the top job after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat launched a search for a new leader to turn the party around.
What advice would you like to give Nitin Gadkari, who has just been named the BJP's national president?