On Wednesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) top leaders and union ministers, including party president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, held a series of meetings in Delhi to discuss various issues and the party’s path forward. This included the expansion of the party’s outreach, party leaders’ visit to Lok Sabha constituencies for the upcoming elections, and celebrations across the country to mark the Narendra Modi-led government’s eight years in office.
As part of the party’s planned outreach, ministers will visit different parts of the country and 144 parliamentary constituencies between May 30 and June 15, to meet party members. Additionally, they will also gather feedback from the beneficiaries of various welfare schemes implemented by the Modi government over the years. The theme for the Modi government’s eight-year anniversary celebration is ‘Sewa, Sushashan aur Gareeb Kalyan’ (service, good governance and welfare of the poor).
Reportedly, following BJP president Nadda’s meetings with party members from across the country, about booth micro-management in the regions where BJP has not performed well, he joined Amit Shah for another meeting. The subsequent meeting was attended by 30 central government ministers and party leaders to discuss the strategy for the outreach program to interact with people who have benefitted from the government’s welfare schemes. The meeting was attended and addressed by Dharmendra Pradhan, Smriti Irani, and Kiren Rijiju, among others.
According to party sources, the constituencies will be covered by Union ministers who were selected based on the party’s organisational strength and electoral performance. The selected constituencies for the exercise are currently represented by members of the opposition party, as per BJP sources. The ministers will spend three days meeting party members, gathering feedback, and holding press conferences in the states assigned to them.
During the outreach exercise, Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Smriti Irani and Jyotiraditya Scindia will be among the six ministers visiting West Bengal, which is currently led by the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee. On the other hand, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will visit Punjab along with a handful of other ministers. The state is currently led by Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party.
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Amid this, Congress party leaders have indicated that they are set to release a “report card” on the Modi government’s performance. According to sources, the Communication Department of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has prepared this report card to address the failures and highlight the overall performance of the government on various issues like the economy, foreign policy, communal harmony, and inflation.
This will also include the Centre’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The issues evaluated include Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and concerns over communal harmony and polarisation in the country. This evaluation will be presented by Congress General Secretaries Ajay Maken and Randeep Surjewala at a press conference in Delhi.
“Unemployment is high and has broken records of 45 years, while inflation is rising… especially of essential commodities. Petrol-diesel prices are historically high, and Rupee against Dollar is historically low. The foreign reserve is also dipping… the country is suffering from an economic crisis,” said party sources.
