Assembly polls, countering criticism on Covid key agendas at BJP's national executive meet on Nov 7

Formulating a strategy for the Assembly polls next year against the backdrop of the recent bypoll blues will be the dominant agenda at BJP's national executive meeting on Sunday, which will be attended by over 100 leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A special brainstorming session on the forthcoming assembly elections in five states will be the highlight of the meeting, which will also adopt a condolence resolution in the memory of those who lost their lives in the pandemic.

The meeting will also discuss the programmes and policies to make the party "more broad-based" in order to "accommodate greater sections" of society.

BJP has fallen back on its time-tested Hindutva plank and is now resorting to making a big show of of the reconstruction of Kedarnath temple, the renovation of areas around thr Kashi Vishwanath temple and the Ram temple at Ayodhya in the run-up to the Assembly polls in states, including Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The saffron party faces anti-incumbency combined with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting on Sunday will likely deliberate on the counter-strategy.

A statement by the party indicates the party's intent to draft in its campaign strategy the massive vaccination drive post Covid-19 and hedging on the weight of Modi government's pro-poor schemes to beat the anti-incumbency in party-ruled states.

"BJP workers did not care for themselves towards the service of humankind. Sewa Hi Samarpan programmes were instrumental in the BJP reaching every corner and remotest part of the country. Recently India achieved the target of 100 crore Covid-19 vaccinations," the statement said.

There will also be an exhibition to showcase the party's successes -- how the poor and needy got free ration for two years during the pandemic, how women, farmers, senior citizens, widows and specially-abled got money directly into their bank accounts and how BJP workers served people during the pandemic.

This is the BJP's first national executive meeting after the Covid-19 outbreak and is taking place just days after the results of the Assembly bypolls, which may have raised alarm bells for the party.

Addressing the media on Saturday, BJP general secretary Arun Singh said 124 party leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in this five-hour long meeting. The meeting attended by party chief J P Nadda will also be attended by Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Nirmala Sitharaman and others.

While 124 senior party leaders will be present at the meeting venue physically, all Chief Ministers and Dy Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states who are part of the national executive will attend the meeting from their respective state headquarters.

The meeting will begin with the address of Nadda and will conclude with PM Modi's message.

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