PM Modi, Amit Shah to attend BJP's national executive meet to draw roadmap for assembly polls

BJP office bearers meeting at party headquarters in New Delhi. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, party president Jagat Prakash Nadda and other members of the BJP’s highest decision-making body begin a two-day meeting in New Delhi on January 16 ahead of nine state elections due this year.

The party’s national executive, which also includes national general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh, state presidents, national general secretaries and 350 party leaders from across the country, would draw up the plan for a busy election year that opens with Tripura assembly polls in March, sources said.

Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, which send a sizable chunk of MPs to the Lok Sabha, too, are due for polls and the outcome can have a bearing on the national elections in 2024 when Modi will seek a third term.

Party’s state general secretaries will submit the performance report of their state units to the central leaders for a review, sources said.

Discussions are also expected on the new BJP chief as Nadda’s tenure ends on January 20. Sources said Nadda will likely continue as the party wouldn't want to make changes ahead of a busy election period.

The economy, too, would be discussed, sources said. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will on February 1 present the Union Budget 2023, the last full budget of this government ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Also read: BJP meeting likely next month in Delhi to endorse extension of J P Nadda's term

In the two-day meeting, discussions would be held with party functionaries of the newly carved union territory of Jammu and Kashimir, where polls have not been held since June 2018.

On January 11, Santhosh asked the party leaders in Jammu and Kashmir to gear up for assembly polls, hinting that the polls may be conducted between April and May. The state unit was asked to ensure that the BJP gets more than 50 seats in what is likely to be a 90-member House when the delimitation exercise is over.

The meeting is being held at NDMC Convention Centre in the heart of the capital, the first major party huddle after the BJP's landslide win in Modi's home state of Gujarat.

Modi will hold a road show in the Capital from Patel Chowk to Parliament Street at 3 pm. Nadda has called held a meeting of state presidents, national general secretaries, state general secretaries and other office bearers at the party headquarters on Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg.

At the NDMC Centre, an exhibition based on six themes, including good governance, inclusive and empowered India and "Vishwa Guru Bharat (world leader India)”, is also planned.