Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Nabin on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the party’s state in-charges and co-in-charges in New Delhi to draw up plans for the upcoming assembly elections in five states next year and oversee other organisational issues, people familiar with the matter said.
The meeting comes at a time when the party is facing multiple challenges from student protests to the opposition accusing the government of electoral irregularities. The BJP-led Union government has come under sharp attack from the Opposition, which has accused it of influencing the Election Commission of India (ECI) following reports that there was disagreement in the poll panel over the conduct of special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Meanwhile, the BJP accused the Congress of keeping double standards on SIR. If there are dead, duplicate names on the voters list, why does it want these names to be restored? “The UP In-charge and all co-in-charges will visit Lucknow on October 1, which will be followed by a meeting with chief minister Yogi Adityanath and discussions with the state office bearers and key leaders.
The party chief asked the office bearers to spend more time in their respective work areas and said frequent dashes to the national capital should be avoided, according to a person aware of the details. “He said the leaders need to focus on issues that have wider ramification on the party’s electoral fortunes. He also instructed the leaders to reach out to people irrespective of their background or political affiliation,” said the person quoted above. They will then proceed for a tour of the state and begin meetings with various caste groups, intellectuals, professionals and so on,” said the first leader. The party leaders at the state level will also sharpen their attack on the Opposition for casting aspersions on the poll panel.“The meeting was to give the office bearers a lowdown of work they will be required to perform for the organisation, politically and for social service,” said the second functionary. BJP national general secretary Smriti Irani said the Congress has been attacking the constitution, institutions and democratic processes instead of reflecting on the reasons for its defeat.“Does the Congress give a clean chit to the EC in states where it is in power? Irani said addressing the media.
