The top echelons of the BJP and the movers and shakers from all its state units are gathering for a two-day national executive meet in the capital of poll-bound Bihar beginning on Saturday to deliberate on the party’s future national course of action and set off the Bihar poll campaigns.
The BJP has put in its organisational might to make a success of the conclave in Bihar, where the Assembly elections would be practically the first in any state after Nitin Gadkari took over as BJP chief last year. The entire city of Patna and most towns across Bihar have been turned saffron with the BJP’s numerous banners, hoardings and posters greeting people from all directions.
A clutch of senior BJP leaders, including Mr Gadkari, Mr L.K. Advani, Ms Sushma Swaraj, Mr Arun Jaitley, Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Venkaiah Naidu, reached Patna on Friday afternoon. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, who would be one of the top speakers at the BJP’s Bihar Swabhiman Rally on June 13, would reach on Saturday. With a total of 352 BJP leaders from across the country attending the conclave, most hotels in Patna have been booked to full capacity, creating a shortage of hotel rooms. Attention has been pad to treat the participating leaders to special Bihar dishes at their hotels. Chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar has invited all the BJP leaders to dinner at his residence on June 12 evening.
The convention hall at Hotel Maurya in Patna has been named after Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the former vice-president of India and veteran BJP leader who passed away recently. The party has set up a 24-hour media centre at Hotel Pataliputra to facilitate journalists filing their news stories about the conclave.
While the three major issues — the UPA government’s one year in power, security threats after the rise in Maoist influence, and the UPA government’s step-motherly treatment to non-NDA-ruled states — would form the core of the BJP’s deliberations, Bihar’s impending elections would also feature significantly, said leaders. The party would also pass resolutions on UPA’s performance in the last one year, including its failure to control rising prices and Naxalism.