BJP executive committee meeting exudes confidence of return to power

BENGALURU: In preparation for the upcoming Assembly election, the BJP held its special executive committee meeting at the Palace Grounds here on Saturday. Senior leaders including party general secretary in charge of Karnataka, Arun Singh, and general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh took part in the meeting.

Former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, who inaugurated the meeting, asserted that the party will get 130-140 seats and that nothing can stop the BJP from coming back to power. Taking a dig at the Congress, he said there is already infighting over who will be the CM and questioned who is the leader of that party. “Is it Rahul Gandhi?” he asked.

Pointing out that the Centre had made huge allocations for the recently presented budget, he stressed that the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah will return to power. He also advised the party leaders and cadre to maintain self-confidence.

Highlighting the various achievements of the BJP government, he advised the party leaders to hear out the grievances of the SCs, STs and backward classes and redress them. He also thanked PM Modi for allocating Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra project, pointing out that stress has been laid on agriculture.

“The Congress is a divided house, but we are united. The Congress bus yatra will get punctured midway. We will come back to power with clear majority on our own strength”, he stressed. Yediyurappa also added that the BJP leaders will tour the state as three teams in buses.

Party general secretary Arun Singh, while heaping praise on Yediyurappa, said the Congress has no leaders and no leadership. “Rahul Gandhi speaks differently on different occasions. The Congress has no principles and only believes in appeasement politics and makes false promise. Its leaders like Siddaramaiah also insult Hindus”, he said.

Union Minister for Coal, Pralhad Joshi, and party state president Nalin Kumar Kateel also addressed the gathering. Former Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, Jagadish Shettar, state co-in-charge D K Aruna, state leaders and office-bearers were present.

On Friday evening, the party core committee met to discuss election strategies for the next three months including visits by senior leaders, planning for roadshows and rallies. The party will campaing with its development and Hindutva agenda and woo voters by creating awareness about the benefits of the various schemes and projects.

The meeting also discussed its internal survey report which classified the constituencies. The party is confident of winning in 60-65 constituencies, which is has classified as Category A, and feels it need to make more efforts in 25-30 seats, which are classified as Category B. The rest are seats where the opposition Congress and JD(S) are very strong and senior leaders may make more efforts in these constituencies.