An estimated 12,000 delegates are expected to attend the two-day National Council of the BJP, beginning here on Friday that would showcase the Modi-Government’s pro-poor programmes during its tenure and work out the election campaign agenda for the Lok Sabha polls. It would be a two-day open session.
It would be one of the largest BJP gatherings in the recent times and would be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah, all the party State heads, BJP Chief Ministers, MPs, MLAs and other council delegates. Council is the highest policy making body of the BJP.
The Narendra Modi Government’s outreach to different sections of society is likely to be a key theme for the council meeting which would commence with the address of Shah on Friday and conclude on Saturday with the Prime Minister’s speech. The Lok Sabha poll which is only few months away and expected to be a tough contest given BJP’s electoral reverses in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, would be the main focus of the council meet.
The passage of the bill providing 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education for economically weaker sections in the general category has raised the upper caste reach of the BJP across the country. The move may also push reverse consolidation for the regional caste-based political parties, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The BJP feels the bill, which will come into force after getting the President’s nod — a mere formality — will consolidate its core vote of upper castes in the Hindi-speaking states and also strengthen its appeal among political significant communities like Jats, Patidars and Marathas, among others.
A section of the party believes that anger among upper castes played a role in its loss in the recent State polls.
Party sources said the Modi Government’s measures, like granting constitutional status to the OBC Commission and strengthening the law on atrocities against Dalits and tribals, are likely to be highlighted and projected as part of its “social justice” project.
Shah has often asserted that the BJP will win more seats than the 2014 polls, when it had won its first ever majority by bagging 282 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats.
But BJP’s rivals believe that the party is facing a resurgent Congress in several states while the expected alliance of the Samajwadi Party and the BSP will dent its prospects in Uttar Pradesh, making the likelihood of its repeat of 2014 feat challenging.