New Delhi: The BJP's Central Election Committee on Wednesday reviewed the party's poll preparations in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, with particular focus on seats where it is vulnerable, in a meeting attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders. Sources said the CEC members reviewed the party's preparedness for the upcoming assembly elections as the state leadership gave them feedback.
They said those seats where the party has suffered reverse in previous polls came up for discussion. The party's decision to hold the meeting so early -- the CEC usually meets only after poll dates are announced -- underlines the significance it has attached to five-state elections, the last round of assembly contest before the all-important Lok Sabha polls.
Besides Modi, CEC members including party president J P Nadda, and Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah were among those present at the meeting. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh were among the state leaders who participated in the deliberations.
Such an early CEC meeting also signals a greater involvement of the central leadership in overseeing the state poll campaigns, sources noted. The party is focusing on seats where it faces strong opposition but believes it can turn things around with a deft strategy, including a selection of strong candidates. Five states -- Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram -- are expected to go to the polls in November-December.
Similar CEC meetings can also be held for the other states, sources said. The BJP is in power in only Madhya Pradesh and is running an intense campaign to oust the Congress government in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and the BRS in Telangana. In the 2018 polls, the BJP lost power in both Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh but succeeded in toppling the Congress government in the latter.
It had won only 15 of the 90 seats in the Chhattisgarh assembly against 68 of the Congress while its tally of seats was 109 against 114 of the Congress in the 230-member Madhya Pradesh assembly. The BJP has been running organisational programmes in both the states to strengthen its support, especially among the communities where its vote share had gone down. The party had, though, swept the Lok Sabha polls in both the states in 2019 as voters rallied back around its prime ministerial candidate Modi. (PTI)
