Specifically naming the five states where the party has never tasted power on its own – Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Odisha and West Bengal – BJP president JP Nadda said, “The states where BJP has not come to power till now, (the party) will try its best and is committed to form the government in these states.
The BJP’s national executive meeting on Sunday saw discussions on the upcoming assembly elections in five states. The party’s national office-bearers, its national executive members from the national capital and Union ministers were physically present in the meeting, while the chief ministers, other national executive members as well its veteran leaders L K Advani and MM Joshi, who are part of the Margdarshak Mandal, attended the meeting virtually.
During the meeting, chief ministers of four states where elections are due early next year – Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa – and their respective state presidents gave presentations on their poll preparations. BJP’s Punjab unit head also gave a presentation on upcoming assembly elections and said that the party will contest all 117 assembly seats. This was the BJP’s first national executive meeting after the outbreak of the pandemic which was held in hybrid mode.
Nadda’s target of booth committees at all polling stations
Revving up for upcoming assembly polls, BJP president JP Nadda set an ambitious target of having booth committees at all polling stations in the country by December this year and “panna committees” responsible for each page of voters’ list by April next year, while asserting that the party’s best is yet to come.
Setting new organisation targets for the BJP’s expansion, according to Pradhan, Nadda announced the party will constitute booth level committees at all 10.40 lakh polling stations in the country by December 25 this year and have “panna committees”, a reference to each page of voters’ list, in each constituency by April 6. “The entire exercise is aimed at taking the party penetration deeper and further strengthening its roots on the ground,” Pradhan said.
Addressing the BJP’s national executive, Nadda also reached out to Sikhs, who are in majority in poll-bound Punjab that is the most affected by the anti-agri law protests, by listing a number of measures the Modi government has taken for the community.
“No one has done as much work as our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji has done in the interest of Sikh brothers,” he said and mentioned steps like FCRA registration given to Golden temple in Amritsar, opening up of Kartarpur corridor, removal of names of 314 Sikhs from the black list and expediting action against 1984 riots accused.
