NEW DELHI: With the full-fledged election campaign set to take off from Sunday, the BJP Central Election Committee on Saturday met to finalize names of the remaining candidates in the poll-bound states.
The meeting was preceded by two days of marathon meetings at the residence of the party chief J P Nadda for each poll-bound state.
While details of the meeting were not immediately available, it is understood the CEC approved the lists of candidates for all the states.
The party is expected to release them in a staggered manner in the coming days, leaving the scope for a few last-minute changes to accommodate important leaders from the ranks of the Opposition parties, sources said.
The meeting was chaired by Nadda and attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and other members. The BJP chief held a long meeting with Kerala leaders till late on Friday evening.
The party plans to go aggressive in the state with professionals and Christian leaders imported from the ranks of the Congress.
The meeting was attended by Shah, the party’s organisational secretary B L Santosh and other senior functionaries.
“All important leaders, including a few Rajya Sabha MPs, besides known faces in the state will contest the Assembly elections. The BJP is keen to make a base among the Christians and the party will be willing to welcome key leaders from the community from the ranks of the Congress, with whom informal communication has been going on for a while,” said a senior BJP functionary.
The BJP brass remained in huddle at Nadda’s residence where the core groups of Assam and West Bengal also held extensive deliberations.
“The BJP CEC will approve the list of candidates for the last six phases of the Assembly elections in West Bengal,” state unit chief Dilip Ghosh told reporters on Saturday.
The saffron outfit will field a large number of turncoats from the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Left in West Bengal, with party leaders arguing that gaining cadre strength with such imported leaders would be key in the polls.