BJP leaders meet to finetune strategy for Lok Sabha polls

New Delhi: Gearing up for the Lok Sabha polls, BJP top brass, including Narendra Modi, today held a meeting to finetune its strategy on the eve of its National Executive and Council meetings beginning tomorrow.

The party will finalise its programmes for reaching out to the electorate through "One Vote, One Note" and "Mission 272+" campaign, besides the "Modi-for-PM Fund" which will be both online and offline.

The party will also give final shape to its door-to-door campaign and for reaching out to villages, besides state-wise strategies ahead of the general elections.

The meeting of party office-bearers today, which was preceded by a meeting of general secretaries chaired by party Chief Rajnath Singh and attended by Modi and party veteran LK Advani besides senior party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, took stock of the arrangements and current political situation.

The party discuss at the Executive tomorrow the political and economic resolutions which will be put forth for consideration at the party's National Council meeting on Saturday and Sunday.

To give a fillip to its fund collection efforts to help bring the party to power in 2014, BJP's 1.3 lakh public functionaries across the country will donate their one month salary.

"This is the last session of the BJP before polls and that is why it is very important," party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said.

He said while BJP leader Sushma Swaraj will present the political resolution highlighting the scams and corruption, besides indecision and policy paralysis in the government, Arun Jaitley will present the economic resolution that will highlight the current economic situation due to the "misgovernance" of the UPA and will present BJP's vision.

Trivedi said the three-day national executive and council meetings will discuss issues relating to social, political, economic, national security and internal security.

He said BJP will highlight failures of the Congress-led government, saying the ruling party seems to have accepted defeat even ahead of the Lok Sabha elections after seeing the results of the assembly polls.

"It seems to have already accepted defeat and is now indulging in not just the politics of manipulation but also the politics of deceit," the BJP spokesperson said.

Playing down the issue of AAP's growing popularity and whether the party will discuss a strategy on how to counter it, he said all issues pertaining to elections and strengthening BJP to bring it to power will be discussed.

Noting that the country is passing through a crucial phase, Trivedi alleged that "all kinds of allegations and propaganda is being used by the Congress with the help of other parties".

To a question on whether RSS will support BJP in the poll campaign, he said the Sangh is a non-political and social organisation and only gives a policy direction to BJP on ideological issues. He, however, did not rule out the RSS help saying "all conscious citizens will play their role in this election."

Asked about Rahul Gandhi playing a bigger role for Congress in the forthcoming election, he said, it will not make a major difference.

"All those leaders who have been given power without experience in the name of youth, its result has not been very good, be it Akhilesh Yadav, Omar Abdullah or Rajiv Gandhi," he said.

To a question on whether former Army Chief VK Singh was joining BJP, he said, when the proposal comes up the party will take a call.

The Council Meeting will begin with the speech of BJP President Rajnath Singh, followed by speeches by party veteran LK Advani and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley besides former party presidents Murli Manohar Joshi, M Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari will also put forth their views.

Chief ministers of BJP-ruled states - Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhra Raje Scindia, Raman Singh and Manohar Parrikar - will also be present.

All office-bearers at the national and state level, besides MPs, MLAs and MLCs and district presidents and general secretaries, mayors and deputy mayors as also incharge of all Lok Sabha constituencies will also be present.