 "BJP chief meets party's core group leaders in Bengaluru")
"Our national president met the core group leaders of the southern states to discuss the upcoming election and preparations," BJP National General Secretary Muralidhar Rao told reporters here at a day-long 'Maha Sampark Abhiyan' meeting of the party's office-bearers, legislators and MPs from southern states here.
Rao said the focus of Shah's speech was on expansion and strengthening the party in the south and capacity building of its leadership. "The entire speech of the party president was on organisation expansion, strengthening and capacity building of party leadership. This has been the focus of today's exercise," he said. The Maha Sampark Abhiyan was attended by district presidents and state-level office-bearers of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Puducherry.
Tamil Nadu and Kerala will be going for assembly elections in 2016. "Shah stated that for party expansion and its consolidation in the south it is very important to place before people the achievements of the Centre and take party's ideology to them," Rao said. To address the problem of absence of party offices at district levels of the southern states, Shah talked about the party's plan to set up district offices by December 2016, he said.
"The party will create infrastructure by December 2016 where each district will have party office. We want to set up this infrastructure because this is the weak area, particularly in the south," he said. Shah said that after providing infrastructure, the party would conduct training programmes of its 1.5 million workers. "We are planning to impart training to 15 lakh (1.5 million) party workers -- without training the party will become an electioneering machinery, in which BJP is not interested," Rao said quoting Shah.
"Mere winning of elections and mere electioneering is not the focus of the party. The party should work towards political transformation and social empowerment," he added quoting the party president.