BJP holds five meetings with its Punjab unit to discuss poll preparedness
Darpan News Desk IANS, 14 Oct, 2021 10:57 AM
New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Gearing up for the Punjab assembly polls, the BJP central leadership has held five meetings with the state unit in the national capital. In the coming days, central leaders including the election in-charge and co-incharges will start visiting the state where polls will be held early next year.
A senior party functionary said that the fact that the BJP has never been in power in Punjab on its own, this time the party is leaving no stone unturned and the central leadership is regularly reviewing the poll preparedness of the state unit.
"In the run up to the assembly polls scheduled early next year, the BJP Punjab unit has launched several campaigns to strengthen its organizational structure at the ground level and the progress of these campaigns was also discussed in these meetings," he said.
It is learnt that the top leadership of the BJP Punjab unit was present during these five meetings. "We have had five meetings in New Delhi with the state leadership. We reviewed preparedness and the work done under several programmes. Future plans were also discussed. We are contesting to win and working according to our plans. Everyone in the Punjab unit has worked hard for the expansion of the party across the state in the last one year and it will be visible in next year's assembly polls," BJP national general secretary and Punjab in-charge Dushyant Gautam said.
It is also learnt that the BJP's election in-charge for Punjab, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and co-incharges Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and Meenakshi Lekhi and Lok Sabha member Vinod Chavda will make their first visit to the state soon.
Gautam said that the election in-charges and co-incharges were supposed to visit the state earlier but had been delayed due to the death of Union minister Shekhawat's mother. "Election in-charge and co-incharges will be visiting soon to take stock of the preparations. They will also guide the Punjab unit with their experience," he added.
The BJP is contesting the assembly polls on its own in Punjab for the first time after one of its oldest allies Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) walked away from the alliance last year over the new farm laws. In the last Punjab assembly polls in 2017, the BJP had won only three out of the 23 seats it contested.
In his address in the Assembly's special session to mark the commemoration of 400th Prakash Purb of Guru Tegh Bahadur, he stressed that the Sikh faith is distinguished by the tradition of martyrdom to uphold principles and righteousness given to "us by our great Gurus".
A total of 40.8 per cent people have shown satisfaction with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the five states going to the polls next year, while 41.3 per cent showed dissatisfaction with him, as per the ABP-CVOTER-IANS BATTLE FOR THE STATES - WAVE 1.
According to the ABP-CVOTER-IANS BATTLE FOR THE STATES - WAVE 1, the goodwill of the Union government remains the same except in Punjab, which is up against the Centre over the three farm laws.
The survey found that overall, 13.3 per cent said the 'country is moving forward but not my life', 29.3 per cent said the 'country is moving forward and my life too', while 5 per cent said that 'life is improving but the country is in poor state'.
A day earlier, Customs officials had recovered 495 grams of gold valued at Rs 24.14 lakh from a passenger on his arrival from Dubai. The gold was concealed in various items like a blender, facial cream box, and sandals. A case for smuggling of gold was registered. Further investigation is in progress, an official said.
The survey, conducted in the five poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, revealed that about 51 per cent respondents in Punjab are not satisfied at all with work of the MLA of their respective areas.
