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2024 polls, G20 focus of PM’s message to BJP colleagues
PM Narendra Modi urged his party colleagues to ensure that the G20 platform is used to showcase India’s culture and diversity and that there is participation of the people of the country in the big-ticket event through innovative programmes, said a senior leader familiar with details.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to Bharatiya Janata Party office bearers about the coming state elections in 2023, India’s presidency of G20 and the big G20 summit in Delhi in 2023, and the national elections in 2024 , people present at the meeting said.
The PM’s address, on the first of the two-day national office-bearer’s meet being held in the national capital is significant because it coincides with the end of voting in Gujarat -- the state, along with Himachal Pradesh went to the polls in this round, marking the beginning of a 17-18 month election cycle that will end with the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. It is also significant because it comes soon after Indian took over its year-long presidency of the G20 grouping.
Modi urged his party colleagues to ensure that the G20 platform is used to showcase India’s culture and diversity and that there is participation of the people of the country in the big-ticket event through innovative programmes, said a senior leader familiar with details.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Bharatiya Janata Party vice president and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh said the PM stressed that India’s G20 presidency “is a matter of pride for all citizens.”
According to Singh, PM Modi also referred to the strides India has made in recent years and said the country has emerged as an economic power. “India has made economic progress despite challenges. During the Covid pandemic, it has shown the world the way. He (Prime Minister Modi) said G20 is a matter of pride, to showcase India’s culture, diversity and Indianess and there should be participation from all Indians.”
While accepting the grouping’s presidency gavel from Indonesian President Joko Widodo last month, the PM said that over the next year, India will strive to ensure that the G20 acts as a global prime mover to envision new ideas and accelerate collective action and the presidency will be “inclusive, ambitious, decisive, and action-oriented”.
During his interaction with the party colleagues on Monday, the PM also underlined the importance of ensuring the implementation of social welfare schemes, and urged them to ensure last mile delivery of government programmes in far flung areas.
Singh said the PM’s thrust was on ensuring that villages along the border are developed and tourism opportunities are explored in these areas. “He referred to the vibrant border villages programme and said party leaders should ensure that there is a direct interaction with people in the areas to address their concerns,” Singh said.
The vibrant villages programme was announced in this year’s Union Budget and is aimed at improving connectivity, infrastructure and ensuring development in villages along the border.
Singh said the PM also touched on nurturing cultural ties. He referred to the Kashi Tamil Sangamam, a month-long event underway in Varanasi to celebrate ancient cultural ties between Kashi and Tamil Nadu.
The PM also urged party colleagues to intensify outreach as part of the “Sneh Milans”, an idea he also mooted at the party’s national executive meeting in Hyderabad.
Preparations for the 2024 general election and a bunch of state elections that precede it were also discussed at the meeting, which coincides with the conclusion of the Gujarat assembly election.
“The issue of strengthening booths ahead of the upcoming elections was discussed, as were some other poll-related issues,” said a functionary aware of the details. The BJP’s details-heavy election planning includes workers focused on each of the million-odd election booths across the country
The Monday meeting was chaired by party president JP Nadda and attended by state presidents, general secretaries and state in-charges along with the party’s national office-bearers. These functionaries also gave an account of the work being done by the state units in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP has identified 144 Lok Sabha constituencies where its performance was not good in 2014 and 2019 general elections and which are now areas of special focus for the party. Ministers and senior leaders deputed to visit these constituencies will also be submitting reports at the meeting.
