Shah, Nadda meet BJP's state leadership in Raipur for Chhattisgarh polls

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda on Thursday held discussions with the party's top leadership in Chhattisgarh in connection with upcoming Assembly polls.

A party functionary said selection of candidates and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visits to Chhattisgarh were among the various issues discussed during the meeting held for about six hours at Kushabhau Thakre Parisar, the party's state headquarter here.

He said Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary BL Santosh, state in charge Om Mathur, co-in charge Nitin Nabin, state unit chief Arun Sao, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Narayan Chandel and former chief minister Raman Singh, among others, attended the meeting.

Shah and Nadda arrived here in a special aircraft from Jaipur in Rajasthan in the afternoon and directly went to the party's state headquarter where the meeting began at around 2 pm, he said.

The BJP last month announced candidates on 21 out of 90 seats in the state Assembly, polls to which are to be held at the end of the year.

The discussion on the next list of candidates was held during the meeting, the BJP functionary said.

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to address a rally in Bilaspur on September 30 and in Jagdalpur (Bastar) on October 3, he said.

Shah and Nadda have left for Raipur airport to fly back to Delhi, he added.

The BJP, which was in power in the state since 2003, was defeated by the Congress in the 2018 polls.