New Delhi: Ahead of the impending general elections in the next year, BJP top leadership strategised the roadmap in a 10-hour long CM Council's meeting of 15 BJP chief ministers and seven deputy chief ministers on Tuesday.
Presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, the council has decided to fight the elections twining PM Modi's leadership and his 'Vikas' planks.
In one hand, the leadership emphasised on the central government's welfare, pro-poor initiatives such as the steep hike in MSP for crops, Ujjwala, Swacch-Bharat Abhiyan, PM housing scheme, Saubhagya and Ayushmaan Bharat, on the other hand, the saffron party decided to remain with aim of driving out "illegal infiltrators" in Assam from Bangladesh, while also pushing for the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016. "We discussed the NRC in Assam. There is no place for foreign infiltrators in our country. The meeting backed the party's support to the Citizenship Amendment Bill and emphasised the party's belief that Hindu minorities persecuted in neighbouring countries should get a place in India," the Chhattisgarh chief minister and senior BJP leader Raman Singh told media persons here. The Assembly elections in three states, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are scheduled later this year and the meeting further took stock of the progress made there so far besides chalking out a comprehensive state-wise strategy for the upcoming polls. "We discussed the party strategy across states in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, while holding detailed discussions on the state assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh," Singh also mentioned.
The party leaders further discussed the centre's initiatives for the poor and backward, such as its decision to grant constitutional status to the OBC commission as well as the recent SC/ST steps.
The marathon meeting was held at the party's new headquarters here in the presence of Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, apart from PM Modi and his lieutenant Shah.
The CM Council's meeting has been organised by the current leadership of the party to assess the performance of the states ruled by BJP and for a better coordination between the organisation and the government. The party has also stressed upon state units to popularised central and state schemes, eyeing the Lok Sabha elections, in 2019. The last meeting took place on February 28.