NEW DELHI, June 6: The BJP national executive meeting, which will take place in Goa on June 8-9, will decide strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections in different states and the next general elections though the focus will be on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and possible announcement of head of the party’s election campaign committee.
However, officially the BJP said decision on the party’s prime ministerial candidate for 2014 polls and head of the election campaign committee will not be taken at the two-day conclave in the Goan capital of Panaji.
A section of BJP leaders want that Mr Modi be appointed as head of the election campaign committee and also he be projected as the face of the party for the next general elections.
The NDA partner JD(U) has clearly expressed its reservation on Mr Modi’s name as the prime ministerial candidate of the Opposition alliance.
A section of the BJP also wants that the decision on the prime ministerial candidate be taken at the earliest.
The BJP national office-bearers will meet tomorrow to decide agenda for the meeting which will be attended by about 300 delegates, including BJP president Rajnath Singh, senior party leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Mr Modi, party’s other chief ministers, MPs and MLAs and other senior leaders.
This will be the first national meeting of the BJP chief’s new team.
The party will discuss the strategy against the Congress-led UPA government on different issues including corruption and price rise. However, all eyes of media will be on Mr Modi’s projection at the national level.
The CM’s growing influence in the party was witnessed when he was inducted into the BJP Parliamentary Board, the highest decision-making body of the party. His confidant Amit Shah was recently named the in-charge of Uttar Pradesh which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.
The intra-party debate over the prime ministerial candidate was renewed when Mr Advani, at a party conclave in Gwalior recently, had praised Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and rated him higher than the Gujarat Chief Minister.
Mr Advani also compared Mr Chouhan with former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee.
The BJP president clarified that Mr Advani’s comments had been ‘misinterpreted’ after the media reports said Mr Advani’s speech was against the Gujarat Chief Minister.
BJP sources said some major decisions may be taken at the national executive.
But officialy, the party has maintained that decision on the prime ministerial candidate will not be taken at the meeting.
Senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu, in Hyderabad yesterday, said the party’s Parliamentary Board has so far not discussed the prime ministerial candidate and the issue would also not figure at the national executive meeting.
“The BJP is capable of discussing the issue and take a decision at an appropriate time,” he said, adding that there was no problem on the leadership issue and the party will come to a conclusion as per its tradition.
Mr Naidu said the forum to discuss about the party’s prime ministerial candidate is the Parliamentary Board and not executive meeting and there was no hurry on the issue as the elections were not announced.
Amid the ongoing parleys within the BJP on the issue of prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 polls and head of election management committee, the Gujarat Chief Minister had met BJP chief Rajnath Singh and Mr Advani yesterday.
Mr Modi was in the national capital to attend the Chief Ministers’ conference on internal security.
Both Mr Advani and Mr Singh congratulated the Gujarat Chief Minister for the party’s victory in bypolls to two Lok Sabha
and four Assembly seats in the state.
The six seats were previously held by the Congress.
The meeting between Mr Modi and Mr Advani assumes significance as there were reports that the BJP veteran was opposing projection of the Gujarat Chief Minister at the national level.
The sources said as a compromise, Mr Advani has suggested to the party chief that two election management committees be created- one for the national elections, headed by Mr Modi, and another for the state Assembly elections, headed by former BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
He wants both to be announced simultaneously at the BJP meet in Goa.
Interestingly, Mr Advani was leading a party group which wanted Mr Gadkari’s removal from the president’s post after controversy over his companies.
Besides, internal matters of the party, the BJP national executive meeting will discuss a wide range of issues from politics to economy, naxalism to terrorism.
Two resolutions– one political and the other economic– will be passed in the meeting.
The BJP office-bearers will gather in Panaji tomorrow and the national executive will meet on Saturday and Sunday.
The party will also chalk out strategy for the 2014 polls and upcoming Assembly elections in November this year in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi.
BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, while speaking to mediapersons in Panaji, said tomorrow’s national office-bearers meeting at Miriort Resort will be attended by all national office bearers, Parliamentary Board members, state presidents, general secretaries, and state observers and final shape will be given for the meet on June 8 and 9.
He said in the national executive meet, all national office bearers, 13 vice-presidents, 10 general secretries, 15 secretaries, 16 frontal presidents, 80 National executive members, 4 state Chief Ministers, 2 deputy Chief Ministers and 14 former chief Ministers, 18 legislator memebers, 56 permanent invitees, 40 special invitees 36 state presidents and 29 General secretaries and organsing secretaries of the states will participate.
In the meeting, issues on national, political, economic, election, internal and external security will be discussed and resolutions on national issues and other issues will be passed.
Mr Naqvi attacked the UPA government and alleged that the Congress government is a corrupt government and has a record in corruption and conspiracy and said the BJP is the only alternative party to free the country from bad governance.
When asked whether the Gujarat Chief Minister will be projected as the PM candidate for the Lok Sabha election, Mr Naqvi said, “Mr Modi is not only BJP’s popular leader but he is also a national leader and we are proud of him.”
(UNI)
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