PM Modi to address over 25 rallies by January-end

NEW DELHI: The BJP has decided to shed all complacency and take on its political opponent head-on in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi set to address over two dozen rallies covering 122 seats the party has never won in states like Kerala, West Bengal, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and the other northeast states. 

Party chief Amit Shah held a meeting with the BJP’s central office-bearers, state unit presidents and general secretaries (organisation) of all the state units at the party headquarters here on Thursday. In a message to the leaders, he said the defeat in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan should not deter them, but the message of the people should be respected, sources said. Shah also emphasised that the percentage of votes polled by the BJP, especially in Rajasthan and MP, is impressive and shows p .. 

Modi is set to repeat his 2013-14 rally blitzkrieg in the run-up to 2019. Party sources said starting next week, he will address rallies to cover a cluster of seats in regions where the BJP has never won. These seats are mainly located in south India (barring Karnataka), Odisha, West Bengal, Assam and the northeast. 122 such constituencies identified by the party earlier will be covered in this leg of the campaign that will be completed by January-end. Each public meeting is likely to cover



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The list includes two Lok Sabha constituencies in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Silchar and Dibrugarh in Assam, 17 of the 18 seats in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and 40 of the 42 seats in West Bengal, and the seats never won by BJP in the northeast. 

Shah will also hold a number of rallies in different states. Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari and others will also hold rallies. 

The BJP will hold its national council meet on January 11-12 at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Stadium where about 3,000 party leaders and office-bearers will participate to discuss the Lok Sabha elections. The seven Morchas of BJP — dealing with the youth, women, farmers, minorities, OBC, SC and ST — will hold two-day conclaves in various parts of the country from mid-December to February-end. 

The loss in these assembly elections have shown that farmers are unhappy with the BJP and this section will be a prime target area for the party. Modi will address a public meeting of farmers in UP, the venue is still to be worked out, on February 22. The BJP Kisan Morcha will organise this rally with the UP state unit. 

The BJP also plans to reach out to the voters by educating them about the welfare schemes. As a part of this exercise, Modi will address a rally of women to be organised.