Post defeat, PM, Amit Shah focus on farmers, traders

New Delhi: Two days after the ruling BJP suffered electoral losses in three crucial Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday turned his focus on policies for common man and small business ahead of the forthcoming interim Budget where the government could announce sops for people with an eye on Lok Sabha polls. Simultaneously, BJP chief Amit Shah dissected the poll results with state unit chiefs and drew a blueprint for holding country-wide meets of party’s specialised wings that work among farmers, women and dalits.

Mr Modi’s meeting with secretaries of several key Central ministries reviewed the state of the country’s economy, ease of doing business and “ease of living”, said an official statement.

The Prime Minister asked bureaucrats to improve last-mile delivery of services and focus on streamlining procedures that would benefit businesses and the common man.

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, in a press conference after his party beat the BJP in three Hindi-speaking states, had attributed his party’s victory to people’s disenchantment, especially of small traders, farmers and common man, with the ruling BJP’s policies.

The Prime Minister’s meeting coincided with BJP president Mr Shah’s deliberations on the party’s loss in Assembly elections with state unit chiefs, sources said.

Mr Shah also met organisational secretaries, along with leaders of party’s specialised wings whose performance has come under the lens after the BJP’s recent drubbing in the Hindi belt.

Mr Shah’s meeting ended in a decision that the BJP national council, the party’s largest organisational body, will meet in New Delhi on January 11-12, while its seven key wings will hold meetings across the country as the party steps up its campaign for Lok Sabha polls in 2019. Sources said the whole focus was on putting the Assembly poll debacle behind and preparing for parliamentary polls.

Amid concerns within the BJP and the Modi government over the feedback that there is growing unrest among the farming community, the BJP leadership decided that the kisan morcha’s two-day convention would be held on February 21 in Uttar Pradesh.

The leaders decided that the convention should be addressed by Mr Modi who can try to assure and convince farmers that the government is working diligently for their betterment.

Since Mr Modi has a major support base among women voters, it was decided that he could be asked to address the mahila morcha’s national convention planned in Ahmedabad on December 21-22.    

The youth morcha’s national convention will take place on December 15-16 in the national capital. The SC morchas will hold its national convention on January 19-20 in Nagpur, which will be addressed by Mr Shah and Union minister Nitin Gadkari. The BJP’s minority morcha will meet in Delhi on January 31 and February 1 and will be addressed by Mr Shah. Odisha capital Bhubaneshwar will be the venue for the ST morcha’s convention and will be addressed by Union minister Rajnath Singh.

In a related development, Union minister Prakash Javadekar hinted at the BJP dissecting the results of the Assembly polls for future success.

“The BJP’s biggest quality is that we are a thinking party even when we win. Winning and losing is a reality and introspection is a continuous process which we are doing,” Mr Javadekar said at an event in Delhi.