PM Narendra Modi confers with BJP leaders on poll strategy

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday met BJP leaders, including party president Amit Shah, all general secretaries and some state in-charges. A few Cabinet ministers also attended the dinner meeting at the Prime Minister’s official residence that went on till late in the evening. Sources said issues like the coming Assembly elections in seven states, the Budget Session of Parliament and feedback on organisational matters and government schemes, were discussed.

Of the seven states that will go to the polls this year, three — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan — are BJP-ruled. Speculation is rife that the Narendra Modi government could announce sops for the farming sector and some tax relief for the middle class in the coming Union Budget keeping in mind the Gujarat poll results. The BJP had managed to win for the sixth consecutive time but its tally had decreased to double digits. The farming community in Mr Modi’s home state was said to be unhappy with the ruling BJP. Sources said BJP leaders could also have given their feedback on organisational matters to the PM as at least in two states, now under BJP rule, the ruling party could face anti-incumbency in the coming elections.

The BJP is running a high-voltage campaign in poll-bound Tripura and Meghalaya, both of which are likely to go to the polls next month, and Karnataka, where elections are expected to take place in May.

Home minister Rajnath Singh, meanwhile, told Nagaland chief minister T.R. Zeliang at their meeting here on Wednesday that the Assembly election in the northeastern state would be held on schedule, amid a demand by civil society groups there for deferring the polls to facilitate a solution to the vexed Naga insurgency issue. At the meeting, the chief minister also gave some suggestions to the home minister for a solution to the vexed Naga issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a meeting at the Niti Aayog late Wednesday evening, yet again pressed for simultaneous polls, asking experts from different sectors to build pressure to hold simultaneous elections for Parliament and the state Assemblies. The meeting was attended by Union ministers Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Radha Mohan Singh and Suresh Prabhu, along with economists and experts in different fields.