AHMEDABAD: Assuming that SC, ST voters could play an important role in the upcoming Gujarat election, the ruling BJP is trying to ascertain why these communities have been aligning with the Congress in earlier polls. BJP national general secretary BL Santosh, who is in Gujarat on a two-day visit, had a closed-door meeting with the BJP’s Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe leaders at the party’s state headquarters on Wednesday.
It is learnt that Santosh has directed the party’s SC/ST leaders to work towards molding the communities towards the saffron party. After his arrival in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, Santosh visited the RSS office in the city and discussed the feedback on the state government from citizens with Sangh functionaries. Later in the evening, he had a closed-door meeting with RSS prant pracharak, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and BJP Gujarat BJP unit president CR Patil.
Sources said the meeting lasted around three hours and the leaders discussed various issues, including the preparations for the election. Later, Santosh left for Gandhinagar to meet with BJP state leaders. On Thursday, he is expected to meet with former and incumbent ministers and MLAs in Gandhinagar.
On his return to Delhi, Santosh will be sitting down with BJP national president JP Nadda and other senior leaders to share his assessment and then plan strategies for the Gujarat Assembly election. Going by Santosh’s remarks on the BJP adhering to the “no repetition” in Mysuru recently, it is speculated that the formula may be followed in Gujarat polls too.