Modi being congratulated in Ahmedabad after the bypoll results on Monday. (PTI)

Ahmedabad, Sept. 15: Narendra Modi today pulled off a stunning coup to snatch the reins of the cash-rich Gujarat Cricket Association, one of the last remaining Congress bastions in the state.

The change in guard came a day after the BJP trounced the party in the Assembly byelections, winning five of the seven seats, four of which the BJP wrested from the Congress.

Till this morning, no one had any inkling about Modi’s desire to become president of the cricket association, a post Narhari Amin, a Congress leader and former deputy chief minister, held for 16 years until June.

Amin was forced to resign on June 27 after his panel lost majority in the Central Board of Cricket of Ahmedabad, an affiliate of the association. The Ahmedabad board accounts for 11 of the 32 voters in the association.

Home minister Amit Shah, a Modi confidant who had been engaged in a long drawn battle to win over other cricket bodies to oust the president, had led the charge against Amin.

Shah had been widely tipped to be a candidate for the president’s post when the elections came up today at the association’s annual general meeting.

Therefore, no one suspected a thing when Modi arrived at the Motera stadium, ironically Amin’s lasting legacy, thinking he was an unexpected guest.

Only when a member proposed the chief minister’s name for the post of president did it dawn on those present that there was a twist to the visit.

With the other group too stunned to react, Modi, a co-opted member of the association, won unchallenged since the voting members close to the Congress also stopped shy of taking on the chief minister. He readily accepted the post “in order to promote sports”.

Shah replaced Vikram Patel, who had been acting as association head after Amin’s resignation, as vice-president.

Modi claimed association members had approached him a few days ago to take up the job.

“We will discuss ways to popularise the sport, not just cricket but other sports as well, among the youth. We will have an integrated approach for their all round development,” Modi said after his victory.

The chief minister assured members that his hectic work schedule would not come in the way of his new assignment, which he sees as a “huge responsibility”. Magnanimous in victory, he promised he would be “accessible and available” to all members.

Amin’s long stint at the helm came to an end after the BJP managed to win over the Central Board of Cricket of Ahmedabad from the Congress-led group, after which his supporters started deserting him.

Home minister Shah carried out a clinical campaign: topple Amin and win over some of his staunch supporters, including 10 members of the Ahmedabad board belonging to the minority community. “I got the hint and threw in the towel,” said Amin.

Amin, who became association president in 1993 when he was a senior minister in the Chimanbhai Patel government, is acknowledged as the man behind developing Motera as a world class cricket stadium on a sprawling 62-acre land. He also is credited with multiplying the association’s resources many times over.

Modi joins the august league of politicians who have taken over as chief of cricket bodies in their respective states.

Among them are the National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir), BJP’s Anurag Thakur (Himachal Pradesh) and Arun Jaitley (Delhi), NCP’s Sharad Pawar (Mumbai and president-elect of the International Cricket Council) and the Congress’s Jyotiraditya Scindia (Madhya Pradesh).