'Committed to winning': BJP kick starts 2-day executive meet with eye on elections in 9 states

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) kick started a grand two-day strategy session Monday with an eye on the coming elections in nine states this year, which would be seen as the semi-final to the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

The session was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who earlier held a mega road show in Delhi.

While, BJP unit chiefs of four poll-bound states presented their reports at the party's National Executive meeting and this was followed by a discussion on the party's preparations, party sources said.

According to the sources, state Presidents Nalin Kumar Kateel (Karnataka), Rajib Bhattacharjee (Tripura), Temjen Imna Along (Nagaland), and Ernest Mawrie (Meghalaya) presented their reports, while those of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Mizoram will follow suit on Tuesday.

After the reports were presented, there was deep discussion on them, sources said, adding that a roadmap will be prepared on these reports to win the elections.

Tripura Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha and other senior leaders including former chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma, party’s state president Rajib Bhattacharjee and union minister of state Pratima Bhowmik had already left the state on Sunday and on Monday attended the first day meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, party President J.P. Nadda, all General Secretaries, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states, all state Presidents and other officials were present in the meeting.

Speaking to the media in the evening, senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the BJP is "committed to winning" the coming elections.  "The focus now is on strengthening the party at the booth level," Prasad said. Besides the Prime Minister, 35 Union Ministers, 12 Chief Ministers, and 37 regional heads are attending the two-day national executive meeting.  Around 350 party workers are also expected to attend. Prasad said India has pulled ahead in several areas including the manufacturing of cars and cell phones.

"India has become the fifth largest economy in the world surpassing even England. It is the second biggest mobile manufacturer. From importing cellphones in 2013-14, we are now exporting cellphones made here," he said.

*With inputs from IBNS