Hyderabad, Jan 13: Close on the heels of the BJP national executive meeting yesterday, the party general secretaries and presidents of state units are meeting here today to discuss local strategies for Lok Sabha polls. The meeting was addressed by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani.
One of the major issues to be discussed in today’s meeting is that of issues and poll planks to be used by state units during campaigning. Keeping in line with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s speech at the national executive yesterday, state-level leaders are being advised to steer clear of contentious issues like the Ayodhya dispute and minorities. Instead, state unit presidents are being told to focus on the ‘achievements in the field of development’ during the NDA rule. The ‘feel-good factor’ too, will be a central poll issue. Partymen are also being asked to keep alive the issue of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origin.
Today’s meeting will also be used to allocate poll-time responsibilities and announce roles for many new people. Three new committees, one each for campaigning, fund-raising, and preparing a new vision document were constituted at the national executive meeing yesterday.
The meeting agenda also includes discussion of local problems and issues being faced by the state units of the party. Local-level electoral alliances in various states will also be discussed.
Bureau Report
