BJP pitches in for tent life

The tents set up in an area of 90 acres have all the modern facilities that high-end adventure tourism can provide. There is an added urban excitement as the sprawling camp is lined up on both sides of the zooming Agra-Mumbai highway.  

The national executive will  approve the election of party’s new president Nitin Gadkari and pass political and economic resolutions and another one on internal security. The deliberations will also finalise the names of new office-bearers under Gadkari.

Electoral reverses in the last Lok Sabha election and setbacks in state assembly polls have forced the saffron party to look for a change in its functioning. However, the pitching of  a  tent-township is only symbolic as it does not necessarily indicate a permanent shift in the party’s organisational functioning.  “We would know the real change only after these tents are wrapped up after three-days,”  said a senior BJP leader while slipping into his tent.

Meanwhile, the Congress has already accused the saffron party of violating the National Highway Act of 2002 by constructing structures close  to the National Highway. The sight of the township, named Kushabhau Thakre Nagar,  however, reminds one of  the camps set up by medieval “lashkar” (army),  where  battle-hardened soldiers would get a good rest before the crucial  attack.

The camp is eco-friendly as smoking and plastic are completely banned here. Handmade products such as recycled paper and  jute bags will be used for carrying articles and disposing of  waste. The dangers of global warming are kept in mind as battery-run vehicles are placed at the service of leaders to ferry them around the meeting venue.

One of the 25-odd huts  housing the top brass has a bedroom, living room, dining area and bathrooms as also extra office space. The life in the tents is well connected with the world outside by special conference facilities,  plasma TVs and  laptops. The Pune blast has put Indore on the likely target of terror groups and tight security has been provided at the venue to thwart any untoward incident. 

The 80-plus leader L K Advani and  young ones like  Varun Gandhi, 30, are to catch up with each other in the city under Gadkari, 52, who is trying  hard to make his own mark in the new post.

The power-struggle of  the NextGen saffron leadership is also expected to continue within and outside the designer tents fluttering in a city built by battle-famed garrulous queen Rani Ahilyabai Holkar.