As was the case with the two previous Assembly elections held in Gujarat that brought the ruling BJP to power there, this time too Chief Minister Narendra Modi will spearhead the party’s campaign for the upcoming polls in the state.
Modi, who is currently touring the state as part of his much-touted “Vivekananda Yuva Vikas Yatra”, has asked the BJP central leadership to send all its top leaders to the state to campaign for the party.
He has also personally written to the BJP MPs asking them if they would be able to spare a few days for the state.
With the formal announcement of the poll dates by the Election Commission, the BJP has now decided that its entire top brass would campaign in the election-bound state. And the galaxy of top names includes L K Advani, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Murli Manohar Joshi, M Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh.
Following a meeting of the party’s central election management and coordination committee on Friday, BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the top leaders would also campaign in election-bound Himachal Pradesh. And the BJP is fighting the election in the picturesque state under the leadership of Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal.
According to Naqvi, despite the several hurdles from the Centre, Gujarat had set a new high in development and good governance “by providing a sensitive and honest administration.”
And the BJP said on Friday that it would contest the Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh on the plank of good governance and development “despite the step-brotherly attitude of the UPA Government”.
“Good governance and development will be the twin issues on which the BJP will contest these elections. Gujarat has developed despite adverse conditions created by the step-brotherly treatment of the Centre which had created roadblocks and played negative politics,” said Naqvi.
