BJP holds meet of state units to draw poll plans

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionaries and office bearers from 12 states on Thursday met in Assam to build a road map for upcoming elections and review the work undertaken so far, people familiar with the matter said. State unit presidents and general secretaries of the party from 12 states, including West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and the northeastern states, took part in the meeting, said the people quoted above.

“All the states made a presentation about the work done by the party in sectors such as training of workers, awareness campaigns about the accomplishments during the nine years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government and for preparations for upcoming elections in poll-bound states, in addition to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” said a party functionary on condition of anonymity.

“The central high command has identified certain areas and constituencies in which the state units will need to redouble efforts ahead of the elections. In some states, infighting and the party not acting as a cohesive unit have been flagged. In some states, there are complaints about social schemes not having reached the intended beneficiaries; all these aspects are being addressed,” said a second party functionary. Thursday’s meeting will be followed by similar meets in Delhi and Hyderabad on Friday and Saturday.

The meeting was attended by BJP’s national general secretary BL Santhosh, Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma and Tripura CM Manik Saha, among others.