AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped out to take charge of poll-bound Gujarat, his home state, on Sunday and held a closed-door meeting with state BJP’s core committee members.
However, two members of the party’s 18-member core committee were absent.
Former Deputy CM Nitin Patel could not attend due to a fractured leg while former minister Shankar Chaudhary was in Brazil. Party sources said Modi expressed strong displeasure at party leaders not disseminating welfare plans of the Central and state governments in the face of a growing AAP influence. He reportedly told everyone in the meeting in “strict words” that good results must be brought within three months.
The Prime Minister’s meeting at the state party headquarters ‘Shree Kamalam’ in Gandhinagar was unscheduled. A party member, who declined to be named, said: “The meeting was not planned. We got information about the PM’s visit around 5.30 pm on Sunday.”
He said the meeting lasted about two hours, during which the Prime Minister discussed Gujarat BJP’s counter-strategy against the opposition. “The Prime Minister has told party members not to take any political party lightly. All office-bearers, ministers and MLAs have been instructed to be more visible in one’s constituency. It appears the Prime Minister has taken command of the Gujarat election,” he said.
Sources said that during the two-day visit to his home state, Modi asked the state ministers to counter the slew of promises made by Arvind Kejriwal by aggressively publicizing the welfare schemes. Modi is learned to have been less than appreciative of election efforts of his party members.
Officially, the BJP still maintains that Congress is the real opposition in the state and refuses to cede any space to AAP. Several BJP members at various levels of the organization admit that AAP is fast gaining traction in the state.
It is learned that BJP in its internal surveys has asked its workers to prepare reports on the possible impact of AAP announcements. The party also wants the voters’ opinion about the party and booth-wise polling data. Another senior party leader said on condition of anonymity that the PM received “complaints” about some senior Gujarat leaders, who have been dropped from ministerial posts, were inactive.
Modi also met BJP state general secretary (organization) Ratnakar for about 15 minutes. Ratnakar plays the role of a coordinator between the party organization and the RSS. Sources said Modi discussed with him the ongoing party campaign and the process of selection of candidates. Gujarat government spokesperson Jitu Vaghani sought to clear the air about the PM’s meetings, saying he had accepted the state leadership request to attend the core committee meeting.