NEW DELHI: When PM Narendra Modi is the BJP’s sole rainmaker in the five poll-bound states, his ministers have to plough the electoral field in the stormy demonetisation climate. “The PM has asked all his ministers to visit at least 10 places in UP, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur by February end. To gather support, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had sent ministers on specific missions and they are allowed to go where they choose. They just need to share the details with I&B minister Venkaiah Naidu,” sources said.
A BJP leader from the Centre and another from the state will go with each minister. “Their task is to convince voters that what previous governments were not able to achieve in decades, the PM has done it in two-and-a-half years,” a BJP leader said. Many booth-level functionaries armed with details of over 80 Central schemes are working on the ground.
However, few ministers are miffed at the model code of conduct preventing them from enjoying the advantage of using state machinery. “The BJP functionaries will be the ones making all the arrangements for the ministers. With demonetisation dominating the national discourse, they have to convince people that the government’s schemes are game changers for the country,” said the party functionary. The government’s argument for holding simultaneous polls for the Centre and the states is that it would prevent governance from coming to a halt. With ministers with megaphones entering the electoral battlefield, the PM’s apprehensions are may come true.