BJP national council to set tone for LS elections

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 10

Setting the tone and the agenda for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s two-day national council meeting beginning Friday is expected to concentrate on the Narendra Modi government’s outreach and development programmes for different sections of society during its tenure since 2014.

Sources say the party is expected to pass three resolutions — political, economic and one on the current situation in the country — at the meeting, expectedly the last before the country votes to elect the next government.

The government’s recent 10 per cent quota initiative for the economically weaker sections will be among the highlights of the meeting that will see delegates and top leaders from across the country converge on Ramlila Maidan, where extensive preparations have been made. 

Ahead of the 2014 elections, which the BJP won with a thumping majority, the saffron party had held its last national council meeting at the same venue. In those terms, the choice of the venue is significant where besides its measures for farmers, schemes for the welfare of the poor and economic growth will also be discussed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the deliberations for which all required arrangements have been made, including a temporary office for him and his team. Party chief Amit Shah will inaugurate the open session, which will be preceded by a meeting of the national office-bearers.

The meeting comes close on the heels of party’s failure to form governments in six states — Karnataka, Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and Telangana — last year.

The morale of the cadre is running low and the BJP leadership believes it is the right time to send a positive massage across, especially on the Bill providing 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education for economically weaker sections in the General Category.

The BJP believes the Bill will consolidate its core vote of upper castes in the three Hindi-speaking states it recently lost apart from Uttar Pradesh, where too it is facing a tough challenge, and also strengthen its appeal among political important communities, including minority groups.

Meanwhile, other measures like granting Constitutional status to the OBC Commission and strengthening the law on atrocities against Dalits and tribals are also expected to be projected as part of the Modi government’s “social justice” programme.

Ex-CMs appointed BJP vice-presidents

• BJP chief Amit Shah on Thursday appointed former CMs of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the three states where BJP suffered electoral losses in the recently held Assembly elections, as national vice-presidents of the party
• MP ex-CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his counterparts from Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, Raman Singh and Vasundhara Raje, were given the new responsibilities ahead of the LS polls