New Delhi: Before the BJP's massive election machinery begins preparations for the crucial Lok Sabha Polls, the BJP's National Council - the party’s highest decision-making body - is meeting today for two days in Delhi starting Saturday to outline its campaign themes for the elections.
The two-day meeting is being attended by nearly 11,500 BJP delegates drawn from across the country - from elected panchayat heads to district presidents and Union ministers - in an exercise aimed at galvanising its cadre for the polls.
The meet, which will be held at Bharat Mandapam, will be preceded by a meeting of the party's national office-bearers, who will finalise some of the key agenda items for the convention.
PM Modi will on Sunday deliver the valedictory address, a speech that is likely to draw the broader contours of the party's campaign and exhort its members to go all out to achieve his target for the party to win 370 seats in the elections, according to news agency PTI.
The meeting will also see the attendance of chief ministers, state ministers, BJP state unit presidents and its organisational leaders from across the country.
"This is the first time for me. It will be an important and informative session for young public representatives...This time we will win all 26 Lok Sabha seats with a lead of more than 5 lakh votes in Gujarat," said Gujarat BJP MLA Rivaba Jadeja, according to ANI.
Representatives of the party's district bodies and 'morchas' from across the country will also attend the mega meeting.
The meeting is one of the biggest meetings held in the last 10 years. In the previous national council meeting, including the two organised in the national capital weeks before the 2014 and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the attendance had generally remained around 3,000
BJP leader & MoS Health Dr.Bharati Pravin Pawar, who is attending the meeting, praised the emphasis given by PM Modi on women's security. "In the last 10 years, under the leadership of PM Modi, emphasis has been on women's security. The Central government is watching the situation in West Bengal."
Senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad has said two resolutions are likely to be passed by the council.
Generally, one resolution highlights the prevailing political atmosphere and the party's stand on germane issues while another is underpinned by the state of the economy.
The recent white paper on the economy tabled in Parliament by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the perceived disarray in the opposition INDIA bloc, the successful G20 Summit in 2023, and the country's global standing are among the issues that are likely to figure in the speeches of key BJP leaders at the meeting and in the resolutions.
The outcomes of the Modi government's welfare initiatives, besides the prime minister's focus on empowering what he has often describes as the four biggest "castes" of women, youth, poor and farmers may also be discussed, party leaders said.
Political watchers will also keep an eye on whether the ruling party touches on the issue of electoral bonds, which have been struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional and seized by opposition parties to mount an attack on the BJP, and the ongoing protests by farmers, mostly from Punjab.
Prasad noted that the BJP won its maiden majority in the Lok Sabha in the 2014 polls and delivered a bigger win in 2019 following the council meetings held before the two elections, exuding confidence that the convention this time will put it on course to win 370 seats in the 543-member House.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will also cross 400 seats, as asserted by Modi, he added.
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