Setting the ball rolling for party preparations for upcoming polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa and Manipur, BJP chief J P Nadda and senior ministers of Modi government on Saturday chalked out a strategy to reach out to different sections and beat the anti-incumbency in the states.
Barring Congress-ruled Punjab, where the contest could now be triangular, BJP is in power in all other states. BJP's erstwhile Punjab ally Shiromani Akali Dal has tied up with BSP in Punjab while Congress state unit is marred by internal dissension. In UP, questions have been raised about Covid management by the Yogi Adityanath government.
There was also a tussle recently, which was paper over with the active involvement of BJP and RSS top brass. Winning UP, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats is crucial for BJP with an eye on 2024 Lok Sabha polls as well. Besides having the Parliamentary constituency of the Prime Minister, UP has three Hindu temple towns, Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi, pivotal to the Hindutva politics of BJP.
The meeting was attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other Union Ministers and Amit Shah, Smriti Irani, Kiren Rijiju, Rajanth Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman Pralhad Joshi, Piyush Goyal, Baijayant Jay Panda, Mansukh Lal Mandaviya and others ahead of an imminent Cabinet reshuffle in the Union government as well as a party overhaul including elections due in party's apex decision making body BJP Parliamentary Board.
The party also announced new state chiefs for Assam, which the BJP won for the second time this year, and election-facing Manipur. Bhabesh Kalita and Sharda Devi will head the Assam and Manipur units, respectively. Kalita replaces Ranjeet Kumar Dass, who has become a minister in the newly-formed government in the state led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, while Sharda Devi succeeds Saikhom Tikendra Singh, who succumbed to Covid-19 last month.
The meeting at the party headquarters, which also took stock of Covid relief works done by BJP workers across the country with a special focus on poll-bound states, is the first such marathon high-level exercise aimed at a forward movement before the polls at a time there are indications of the emergence of attempts to forge a larger opposition unity.
Many BJP leaders, who are handling organisational charges, also took part in the meeting, which comes after several small group meetings held by senior BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah, who appear keen on addressing the dissent in several poll-going states, including UP, and find allies to shore up their vote base.
Check out DH latest videos: