BJP meet to chalk out LS poll strategy tomorrow

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 20

With the Narendra Modi government completing four years this month, a meeting of the state BJP legislature party has been convened here for May 22 to chalk out detailed plans for year-long activities to be carried out in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The meeting is coinciding with the civic reception being hosted in the honour of President Ram Nath Kovind on the same day and all MLAs are expected to be in Shimla. “The BJP high command has sent a schedule for celebrations and programmes. The details of the activities to be taken up from the booth to the state level will be discussed. The focus will be on strengthening the party at the booth level,” state BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti said.

The meeting is likely to review the initiatives and the welfare schemes started by the government and their impact on the ground. The MLAs will also give their feedback about the initiatives. The BJP may also discuss the strategy to counter the “false propaganda” unleashed by the Congress against the Modi government and aggressively carry forward the development agenda “Sab ka saath, sabka vikas” of the NDA government.

The focus will be on the pro-poor initiatives of the government like the Ujjawala Yojana, Saubhagya Yojana and the Prime Minister Awas Yojana. The achievements will be aggressively highlighted on various social media platforms and a booklet detailing these initiatives will also be released.

The BJP, when in the opposition, had made deteriorating law and order, mafia rule, wasteful spending and appointing chairpersons and vice-chairpersons major election issues. The party is on the back foot as law and order remains an issue of concern, activities of mafias are still continuing and the practice of appointing politicians as chairpersons of boards and corporations is still in vogue. Creation of posts of chief whip and deputy chief whip and the purchase of luxury car for the Chief Minister have also evoked sharp reaction from the public.

The task is tough for the state BJP as it had won all four seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The party also won 44 out of 68 seats in the Assembly elections. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had announced 30 new schemes in the Budget and steps like lowering age limit for social security pension without income limit from 80 to 70 years have sent the right signals.

Steep hike in fee for MBBS courses in Maharishi Markandeshwar Medical College and Hospital, Kumarhatti (Solan) has not been reviewed by the government even as students and their parents are waiting for the rollback.

On the back foot 

• The BJP had made deteriorating law and order, mafia rule, wasteful spending and appointing chairpersons and vice-chairpersons the major election issues. 
• The party is on the back foot as law and order remains an issue of concern, activities of mafias are still continuing and the practice of appointing politicians as chairpersons of boards and corporations is still in vogue. 
• Creation of posts of chief whip and deputy chief whip and the purchase of luxury car for the Chief Minister have evoked sharp reaction from the public.