The three-day BJP National Council meeting, which starts on Friday here and coincides with the birth centenary of party ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay, is likely to decide to reach out to marginalised sections, especially OBCs, besides raising the Uri terror attack, which left 18 Armymen dead and triggered an outcry for punitive action against Pakistan.
The party is likely to use the occasion to reprise the poor-centric ideology of Upadhyay, who was elected its president in 1967 at the same venue and whose 100th birth anniversary falls on September 25. Cases of violence against BJP and RSS functionaries in the left-ruled Kerala are also expected to be referred to by the leadership which has blamed CPI(M) for these incidents, said sources.
As BJP president Amit Shah arrived here on Thursday for the meet, a large number of BJP workers and supporters welcomed him and there
was nothing but saffron flags across the city. It seems to make true the words of Deen Dayal Upadhyay, who had said that the farthest south of India will see the rise of saffron one day, said a BJP supporter.
The choice of Kerala for the BJP meet is unique as the party’s vote share in the last State Assembly election rose substantially. Now the party plans to make a dent in the left bastion.
Top brass in the party is also expected to articulate its ‘garib kalyan’ agenda to reach out to the marginalised sections, especially OBCs and Dalits.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive here on Saturday and speak at a public meeting, his first such address after the attack in Uri. He will address the Council on Sunday. Party leaders and cadres expect him to speak on Uri attack as the saffron outfit has been under fire over repeated incidents of Pakistani terrorists targeting defence facilities, more so as Modi had often flayed the UPA government over its alleged soft attitude to Pakistan in the face of terror incidents.
BJP National Secretary and Kerala in-charge H Raja told reporters that the party leaders will deliberate the Uri incident.
The party had earlier formed a committee under the leadership of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to prepare a garib kalyan (welfare of poor) agenda under which its State Governments will be asked to achieve certain key objectives in various welfare schemes.
Modi will inaugurate Upadhyay’s birth centenary celebrations which will go on for over a year.
The party leadership is also expected to deliberate over assembly polls in several States scheduled for early next year, including in the crucial State of Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has been out of power in Uttar Pradesh for over 14 years and Shah has claimed that it will make a comeback with two-thirds majority by trouncing formidable regional rivals like the Samajwadi Party and the BSP.