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Undeterred by the attacks from Congress party about his recent controversial remarks, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is working closely with the members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to prepare for the assembly elections in five states and Lok Sabha election in 2014.
Senior leaders of the BJP pointed that former President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nitin Gadkari, is expected to get the charge of Delhi and Rajasthan for management of assembly elections. The senior most leader of BJP, LK Advani, was keen to appoint Gadkari for election management committee for assembly election.
Gujarat chief minister is expected to be in Delhi on July 17 and 18 to hold meetings with senior BJP leaders and announce the appointment of members of different committees under the leadership of party President Rajnath Singh.
Members of the BJP said that former chief minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje, is comfortable with the decision of appointing Gadkari because the former BJP President had appointed her the chief of party in Rajasthan. Raje is also confident that the presence of Gadkari will ensure the support of RSS in the state and it will end factionalism against Raje.
Soon after the appointment of Modi as the chairman of election campaign committee, Advani was keen that Gadkari too should be appointed but the former BJP President had refused to take charge because he didn’t want get involved in the tussle between Advani and Modi.
Before coming to Delhi for the crucial meeting of the parliamentary board, the highest decision making body of BJP, Modi has gone to Nagpur to meet Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief. RSS is keen to project Modi as the face of BJP in the upcoming election but it doesn’t want to annoy senior leader of the party which could lead to open tussle in the party for the top post.
During the crucial meeting of parliamentary board, senior BJP leaders are likely to appoint Amit Shah, BJP general secretary and Modi’s close aide, chief of the task to mobilize support of BJP and Modi through social media. The Gujarat chief minister is keen to highlight performance of BJP through social media and had even told all senior leaders that it is the easiest way to interact with the voters.
BJP leaders may also ask P Murlidhar Rao, general secretary of BJP and a close aide to Advani, to help the BJP in mobilising young voters for the party. Rao had played an important to convince Advani to take back his resignation. Rao was in Hyderbad when Advani resigned but he came back to Delhi and had gone straight to Advani’s residence.
The BJP general secretary, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, is expected to get the job of launching the radio campaign for the party which is popular with the young voters.
Another BJP general secretary, Varun Gandhi, is expected to get charge of organising and holding public meetings and rallies, especially in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP leader holds support of large section of cadre. While BJP’s Vice President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi might be asked to prepare a document on the comparison between Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and BJP ruled states.
