Promote Central schemes, PMO tells ministers

With the NDA Government set to complete two years on May 26, in a tactical move which is aimed at not only reminding the people of all the good work done by the Narendra Modi regime, but also planned with an eye on the crucial assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh scheduled for early in 2017 — the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has directed the entire council of ministers to fan out across the country and spread awareness about the Centre’s various flagship schemes like Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, Skill India, and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, among others.

According to sources privy to the development, the PMO has asked all the Union Ministers as well as ministers of state, to travel to all parts of the country, especially in rural areas, mingle with the people and explain to them about the various benefits of the Central schemes launched by the NDA regime in the past two years.

The ministers will start travelling from the second week of this month and till the end of May (coinciding with the second anniversary of the NDA Government on May 26), will remain in various parts of the country, as per the programme charted out by the PMO, sources added.

The move comes just when assembly elections in Assam and West Bengal are days away and the BJP — which has mainly remained a fringe player in both the states — for the first time is eyeing significant political gains there.

However, the main focus behind the promotion campaign are the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, which will take place in February 2017. The ruling party is planning to make major gains in Uttar Pradesh assembly where it currently has 47 seats in a 403-seat strong assembly.

Sources said that buoyed by its thumping success in Lok Sabha polls, where the BJP bagged a whopping 73 seats out of the total 80 Parliamentary seats, it now does not want to leave any stone unturned to make major electoral gains in the politically crucial state, and the aggressive promotional campaign to mark its two years at the Centre, is a crucial part of that game plan.

The council of ministers will mainly focus on rural areas to promote the NDA’s flagship schemes, where incidentally between April 14 and April 24, the ministers will also be mingling with all gram panchayats to promote Mr Modi’s latest programme — Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday — which is aimed at promoting social harmony in rural areas.

The Prime Minister will launch the aforementioned campaign from Mhow in Madhya Pradesh on April 14 (on the occasion of 125th birth anniversary of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar).