Win over the poor to win elections: Modi

On the concluding day of the BJP’s two-day National Executive meeting at the NDMC Convention Centre here on Saturday, the BJP top brass stressed on electoral reforms and bringing in transparency in political funding. 

Addressing the meet where the party fine-tuned its campaign strategy for the upcoming polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a blunt message for his party men. “Don’t ask for tickets for your relatives,” he said. 

Taking off from where BJP party chief Amit Shah had left off on Friday, PM Modi asked party workers to work for the poor and to connect with them. Bringing the message of what the government was doing for the poor. The PM added that the demonetisation drive was aimed at combating black money, counterfeit currency and terror funding and the party workers should communicate this to the people. 

Mentioning that “the poor and poverty were not vote banks for the BJP”, he said it was an opportunity for the BJP to serve them. The PM also saluted the strength of poor of the country and added: “We will strengthen the poor in their fight against poverty.” He further added: “BJP will be at the forefront of pushing transparency in political funding. People have a right to know where our funds are coming from.” The PM also urged his party workers to start working at the booth-level, adding that the mood in the country was in favour of the BJP. 

Briefing the media over the PM’s address, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “The Prime Minister expressed concern over the need to bring in transparency in the political process. When the country is embracing a culture of transparency, there is also a need for transparency in the funding of political parties. He talked at lengths about political funding and said the BJP will play an important role in ensuring there is transparency in funding received by political parties.” 

The financial resolution was briefed by Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman where she called demonetisation as a “sacred” move that was necessary for decimating the parallel economy of black money and for the smooth functioning of the GST. The party brass also asserted that people of this country have accepted the decision with enthusiasm to fight against the menace of corruption. However, the financial resolution couldn’t assure people on the timeline of remonetisation or any limit of withdrawal of cash. When Sitharaman was asked on this, she said: “Nothing has been discussed in the meeting over financial resolution.” 

The session also witnessed discussion on revenue generations of all states where Finance Minister Arun Jaitley claimed that despite demonetisation, every state could enhance their revenue generation, except Bengal due to its “misgovernance”. 

The state-wise development was also discussed where BJP national vice-president and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe presented the parameters of “good governance” in all sectors on behalf of the party. The party praised Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and mentioned that the state could fulfill the promise to increase the income of farmers as was promised by the Prime Minister in 2014. The party also announced the date of its next National Executive meeting — April 15 and 16, 2017. The place has not been announced but party sources said it could take place in any one of the poll-bound states. 

Sources also confirmed that post the National Executive meeting on January 14 and 15, the party president could call a high-level meeting to discuss Uttar Pradesh candidates’ list. The BJP Parliamentary Board meeting on election could also happen then.