The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will hold a meeting of its office-bearers in Jaipur on May 20-21 to discuss prospects, and the strategy, for poll-going States this year and next, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expected to join the meeting virtually.
Sources said that the meeting would be presided over by BJP president J. P. Nadda and all national office-bearers of the party. State unit chiefs and key organisational leaders will also attend the meeting. The BJP's decision to hold the meeting in Congress-ruled Rajasthan is politically significant as the party has been seeking to corner the State government over a host of issues, including recent incidents of communal violence in several places. The Congress is also holding its " chintan shivir" in the State next week. Rajasthan will go to the polls in the second half of 2023.
The BJP’s State units are likely to present a report on their organisational works at the meeting, which is also expected to discuss the political situation, especially in States like Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. While Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are set for Assembly polls later this year, Karnataka is scheduled for Assembly elections in the first half of 2023.
Mr. Nadda has held separate meetings last week itself with core group members of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, which go to the polls together in 2023. For Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the message from the high command is that the principle of collective leadership would be allied, whereas Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been given some support amid considerable factionalism.
