With assembly elections in five states scheduled to be held later in the year and the parliamentary polls due to be held in 2024, the federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a meeting on Wednesday late at night to discuss election strategy.
Media reports quoting sources from the party on Thursday said that the meeting was held at the residence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several senior party members, including Federal Home Minister Amit Shah and the BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda were present.
The meeting comes just days after the Prime Minister returned from his first official state visit to the United States.
The meeting is well timed as four crucial states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Chhattisgarh - will be holding elections later in the year.
According to sources, the meeting lasted for more than five hours and a major reshuffle might have been discussed in the meeting in the light of imminent state assembly elections and the parliamentary poll.
The BJP is hammering out a fresh strategy after it recently faced defeat in the Karnataka state assembly elections. The party will now be looking to retain power in Madhya Pradesh and it will try to cash in on the anti-incumbency in the three other states.
Modi’s Address to Party Workers
The meeting also came a day after Modi addressed party workers virtually on Tuesday and also launched "Mera Booth Sabse Majboot" (my polling booth is strongest) in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.
While interacting with the party workers, the Prime Minister described them as the party's “biggest power”.
In his address, he also announced that the government will push for the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code nationwide, something that has always been part of the BJP's manifestos.
Party’s Preparations for Polls
The BJP is all geared up for the elections as it has already started working on how to connect with the electorate.
In May, as the BJP-led federal government completed nine months, the party launched a month-long exercise to connect with the public, in which federal ministers, senior members of the party and others actively participated.
Before the programme marking ninth anniversary of Modi government, the party had also held a Muslim outreach attempt in March this year in 64 districts of 14 regions, including Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Bihar.