In an effort to ready and pep up its cadres for the 2019 lok Sabha polls, the ruling BJP has organised a mega convention of its party workers across Maharashtra at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) ground here, on its 39th foundation day, on Friday.
BJP’s national President Amit Shah will address a massive gathering of “up-to-booth-level” party workers from various parts of the State, at the party’s foundation day convention.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, party’s Maharashtra unit president Raosaheb Patil-Danve and senior party leaders will be among other speakers at the convention.
“We are expecting at least 3 lakh party workers from various parts of the State to attend the convention,” Patil-Danve said, while addressing a news conference here on Wednesday.
Ahead of Friday’s convention, Chief Minister Fadnavis interacted with 5,000 party office-bearers from across the state, through an “audio-bridge”. He exhorted the party’s office-bearers — comprising among others MlAs, regional organisational heads, district party chiefs, secretaries and heads of different wings like women, backward classes, minorities and youth—to ensure massive presence at the convention.
Fadnavis also visited the BKC grounds and reviewed the preparations for the convention.
Dwelling on the importance of the convention, Patil-Danve said: “The BJP was founded in Mumbai in 1980. Sometime in December 2013, we held a mammoth rally at the BKC grounds which energised the party workers across the country.and in the following year, we captured power at the Centre and in the State”.
With two days to go for the convention, the BJP has erected a huge a pandal and is making seating arrangements for the visiting party workers. “The party will arrive in the city for convention in 28 special trains, 50,000-odd buses, cars, jeeps and other private vehicles. We are making lodging arrangements for the visiting workers,” Patil-Danve said.
Asked specifically if Friday’s rally would mark the kick-starting of preparations for the 2019 lok Sabha polls, Patil-Danve said: “Yes.. You can say that.”
Among the party workers who will attend Friday’s convention will include: 80,000 booth heads, 26 wings and unit office-bearers, 5000 village sarpanches, elected members of 97 big and small civic bodies, all MPs and MlAs, district and taluka party chief heads.
The city BJP workers will accord a grand welcome to Shah when he arrives in the city on Thursday evening to attend Friday’s rally. “Our party’s Yuv morcha workers will accompany our party’s national president in a motorbike rally from the city to the venue where he will be putting up during his visit to the city,” BJP’s Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar said.