NEW DELHI: BJP chief Amit Shah will take time off from the Karnataka poll campaign and attend the party’s core group meeting to find strategies for countering anti-incumbency sentiment against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh.
The four-day meeting will be held in Bhopal.
“The core group of the BJP is meeting to lay the roadmap for an early start to the election campaign in the state. Key BJP leaders are assessing the issues which need to be confronted by the party. The BJP chief on May 4 will take stock of the outcome of the brainstorming and approve the roadmap for the campaign in the state,” said a senior BJP functionary.
Madhya Pradesh along with Rajasthan and Chattisgarh - all BJP-ruled states - will be heading to elections later this year.
On Shah’s direction, sources said, the core group meeting has gone in a huddle, which is being attended by the chief minister, newly appointed state unit chief Rakesh Singh, party in-charge Vinay Sahashrabuddhe, former state unit chief and Rajya Sabha MP Prabhat Jha, besides other key leaders.
With the Congress appointing senior leader Kamal Nath as the state unit chief and allotting key roles to heavyweights Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia, the BJP leaders noted that the Opposition outfit is giving a semblance of unity, which had been missing for a long time.
“There is no denying the fact that there is a build up of anti-incumbency against the BJP government on the back of almost 15 years of uninterrupted rule. Digvijay Singh had been touring the nook and corner of the state with the aim to mobilise Congress workers. The BJP has to size up the emerging challenges during the core group meeting,” added the BJP functionary.
The BJP leaders are said to have held extensive discussions with senior RSS functionaries for close coordination to defend one of the first saffron bastions in the country. “At the end of the core group meeting, the BJP chief will approve political programmes for the next five months till dates for elections are announced. The BJP has gone into election mode in the state,” said the BJP functionary.