RSS, BJP brainstorm strategy for 5 poll-bound states

To evade the past debacles of Bihar and Delhi, an important meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ideological parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) held in the national Capital on Friday. 

Thirty Union Ministers, deputy chief of the Sangh Dattatreya Hosabale, Krishna Gopal, and BJP president Amit Shah were present in the meeting. Keeping  an eye on the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the meeting was held to chalk out the poll strategy as it is also being considered as a dress rehearsal to the Lok Sabha election to be held in 2019. RSS functionaries feel that there is need for the co-ordination between BJP and RSS to calibrate their strategy for the UP polls like they did during the Assam polls. The Sangh also sees the poor synchronisation of both as the prime reason for Bihar debacle. 

The meeting comes a day ahead of party’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’ in Uttar Pradesh. The four ‘Parivartan Yatras’ which will start from various corners of the state from November 5 to 9, will conclude in Lucknow on December 24 after traversing over 17,000 km. The first yatra will start from Saharanpur on November 5, second from Jhansi on November 6 and third and fourth from Sonbhadra and Balia on November 8 and 9, respectively. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address six regional meetings, while Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Kalraj Mishra, two leading saffron faces from the state, will be the key speakers at 10 meetings each. 

Party sources said that strategy not just for the UP elections but also for the other states that vote in 2017, including Punjab and Gujarat, could be discussed on Friday.

Apart from poll strategy, the government’s pro-poor policies were also discussed during the meeting. The meeting began at 8 in the morning.