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NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has set itself the target of winning 370 of the 543 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, held several rounds of meetings with state leaders on Saturday to chalk out poll strategies.
Earlier in the day, BJP president JP Nadda, Union home minister Amit Shah and national general secretaries took stock of poll preparations at a meeting with in-charges of all states.
According to leaders aware of the development, poll strategies, outreach plan and feedback of party surveys were among the key topics discussed at the meeting that went on for over two hours.
Later, Nadda and Shah held separate meetings with a clutch of state leaders. “Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was present in the meeting. The state has set a target of winning all 80 Lok Sabha seats. Besides development of infrastructure and avenues for jobs, the BJP is riding high on the delivery of its promise of constructing Ram Temple,” a state leader aware of the matter said.
Representatives of Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal also met the BJP brass at a separate meeting during the day. “The law-and-order situation in Bengal, particularly, violence against the cadre and the appeasement politics of Mamata Bannerjee were discussed,” said a second leader.
As it has done in the past elections, the BJP will balance its ideological agenda with the development agenda of the Narendra Modi government, the leader said.
With the party gaining more members, including those from opposition parties, the party is also maintaining a tight vigil on keeping a check on friction within the organisation. “The leadership has a clear instruction that once a candidate is selected, the entire organisational set up will do whatever is required to ensure his or her win. Personal likes and dislikes will have to be set aside and only the party’s line will have to be followed,” the second leader said.
Addressing the cadre at the national council meet last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted them to amplify outreach in the 100 days leading up to the Lok Sabha polls. He also stressed that retaining power for the third term was not for his personal glory but for securing the country’s future.
“I am not someone who lives for his own happiness. I am advocating for a third term for the BJP not for political gains, but for the benefit of India,” he said.
He also instructed them to go to the people with a report card of the BJP’s good governance, clean administration and blemish-free image of the Prime Minister.
Smriti covers an intersection of politics and governance. Having spent over a decade in journalism, she combines old fashioned leg work with modern story telling tools.
BJP holds marathon meetings on LS polls – Hindustan Times
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