JOIN USSnubbed twice by KCR this year, Modi to revisits Hyderabad with BJP top brass
The BJP national executive meeting has returned to Hyderabad after a gap of 18 years.
And Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the city for the third time this year, having been snubbed by the TRS chief and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao during the last two tours.
Rao, who has been fiercely attacking the BJP government at the centre, with acerbic remarks on Modi, avoided meeting him in February and May when the PM came to inaugurate the “Statue of Equality” and attend the Indian School of Business's event respectively.
The selection of Telangana capital now for the NEC, party sources said, is to send out a strong message to KCR and his party. The BJP is operating with the target of 2023 assembly polls, and the meeting, leaders believe, would help draw a plan of action to deal with the much bigger electoral adversary in the state.
While it has been accusing the TRS of massive corruption and keeping the KCR family happy and Telangana's people unhappy, the BJP has over the last two days sent 119 BJP leaders from other states, including central ministers, former CMs, to all the 119 assembly constituencies in Telangana. For example, Tripura's former CM Biplab Deb visited Adilabad in the northernmost part of Telangana, Gujarat's former CM Vijay Rupani was in Jadcherla, a south Telangana constituency, and Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai was in Nizamabad.
“The exercise is to assess the party position and to take its good activities and intentions more into the people. The message being conveyed is that the BJP family is much larger than what they see in their district or state, which would come to their aid when needed as relatives do. It is to instil confidence both in the cadre and the voter,” Kishore Poreddy, TBJP spokesperson told DH.
The choice of a south Indian city, after a gap, is also in line with the party strategy of making further advances in south India like Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Over 300 delegates right from PM Modi, party chief JP Nadda, home minister Amit Shah, central ministers, 18 BJP-ruled state CMs like Yogi Aditynath would attend the two-day conclave beginning at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre on Saturday.
While the NEC meet is in a five-star facility, the state BJP has engaged cooks including a woman from rural Telangana to offer the real, rustic taste of Telangana cuisine to its leadership. It is going to be an all-vegetarian affair.
Preparations are underway for a huge public rally “Vijaya Sankalp Sabha” at the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad on Sunday evening after the NEC concludes. The TBJP leaders have set an ambitious target of gathering about 10 lakh audiences for the PM's speech.
The last time the top BJP huddling was held in the City of Pearls was in January 2004, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister and Venkaiah Naidu the party chief.
The BJP top brass had then decided to go for early polls and despite the “India-Shining” blitzkrieg, it lost the elections conceding power for the next 10 years to the Congress-led UPA.
The present meet is taking place when the BJP appears to have emerged as a much stronger force. The BJP has an absolute majority in Lok Sabha and is ruling several big and small states. It is also jubilant over the fresh takeover in neighbouring Maharashtra.