Party to adopt political resolution
Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Nov 5: The forthcoming Assembly elections in five States of the country and recent bypoll results, will dominate the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Executive meeting to be held in New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Jantar Mantar here on Sunday.
All senior leaders of the party including Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, Home Minister, Amit Shah, Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh and party president, J P Nadda will attend the meeting physically while the party National Executive members and special invitees from States will attend the meeting through online.
Party sources said, Prime Minster, Narendra Modi is likely to address the valedictory session in the evening while BJP president J P Nadda will address the inaugural session which will start at 9 am in the morning and end late in the evening. Unlike previous meets, this time the NE meeting will be held only for one day which was previously held for two and half days due to the prevailing situation created by COVID pandemic and hectic schedule of Ministers.
From J&K Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh who is the NE member from the UT will physically participate in the meeting at New Delhi while other NE member from the UT, Dr Darakshan Andrabi and Special invitee and former Minister, Priya Sethi, BJP, president J&K, Ravinder Raina, party general secretary (Org), Ashok Kaul), former Deputy CMs, Dr Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta will participate through online mode. Raina, Kaul , Nirmal Singh and Kavinder Gupta are all ex-officio members of NE.
Sources said a political resolution will also be tabled in the meeting focusing on the coming Assembly elections in five States of UP, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand and the strategy adopted by the party will be discussed in view of the recent setback received in the by polls in three States of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. The bypoll results have added new dimension to the party’s National Executive meeting as its top brass is likely to cast a fresh look at its affairs in places like West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan while deliberating its strategy for the upcoming Assembly polls.
All “important” issues will be up for deliberations, a BJP leader said, adding the party is also likely to laud the Central Government for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the vaccination drive, and hail Prime Minister, Narendra Modi for his development initiatives and successful foreign visits.
The robust revival in economic activities with the record GST collection last month following a slump due to the pandemic is also likely to come up for deliberations at the meeting.
However, it is the bypoll results in three Lok Sabha and 29 Assembly seats spread across 13 States and a Union Territory that may weigh on the minds of the party leadership as it meets for the first time in a physical meeting following the pandemic’s outbreak last year.
The BJP leadership may review the party’s affairs in West Bengal, where its fortunes have been sliding since the high of the 2019 LokSabha poll, and Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, two states where the Congress has put up an impressive performance.
The BJP is in power in Himachal and as such the Congress complete sweep of the bypolls in a Lok Sabha and three Assembly seats there has caused concerns in the party.
The party has, however, registered a strong show in Assam, where it won all five seats with its ally, and Madhya Pradesh, where it won the lone LokSabha and two of the three Assembly seats at stake.
A party leader said price rise may have been a factor and added that the Modi Government has done the course correction by slashing the petrol and diesel prices followed by the BJP-ruled States giving further relief to people by slashing the Value Added Tax (VAT) on the fuel prices.
That the opposition-ruled States have not done so may come handy for the BJP leaders in attacking the rivals when they meet, sources said.
Modi is likely to deliver the valedictory address at the National Executive meeting in which he is expected to shape the party’s stand on a variety of key issues and set the tone for its preparedness as it gears up for the Assembly polls early next year in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. BJP president J P Nadda will deliver the inaugural address.
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