Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet all BJP MLAs from Haryana, along with Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and state BJP president Archana Gupta, in New Delhi on Saturday evening, in what is being seen as a key political and organisational review ahead of a string of electoral challenges in northern India.
According to sources cited by news agency IANS, the interaction is expected to focus on political and organisational issues concerning Haryana and neighbouring states. Discussions are likely to cover preparations and the political situation ahead of the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections, as well as the Opposition's narrative around the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The meeting assumes significance as the BJP continues to review its organisational preparedness and electoral strategy in poll-bound states. The party leadership is expected to take feedback from Haryana legislators on political and organisational matters and discuss how state units should respond to the Opposition's allegations and campaign on SIR.
The backdrop is the Opposition INDIA bloc's continuing offensive against the Election Commission of India and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR exercise. On Friday, AAP leaders and workers who had been detained during a protest at Jantar Mantar and taken to the Fatehpur Beri police station in south Delhi asserted they were "not afraid of the police" while demanding the CEC's resignation. The Opposition's "vote theft" allegations against Kumar have gained momentum following a media report claiming differences within the poll panel.
The meeting also comes after a recent organisational reshuffle in which former Union minister Smriti Irani replaced Satish Poonia as the BJP's Haryana in-charge. Meanwhile, the BJP has intensified its political activity in Punjab, where the drug menace has emerged as one of its principal campaign issues ahead of the Assembly elections, with the party targeting the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government over its handling of drugs, law and order, and the security situation in the state.
Sources: PM Modi to meet Haryana CM Saini, BJP MLAs in Delhi today
According to sources cited by news agency IANS, the interaction is expected to focus on political and organisational issues concerning Haryana and neighbouring states. Discussions are likely to cover preparations and the political situation ahead of the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections, as well as the Opposition's narrative around the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The meeting assumes significance as the BJP continues to review its organisational preparedness and electoral strategy in poll-bound states. The party leadership is expected to take feedback from Haryana legislators on political and organisational matters and discuss how state units should respond to the Opposition's allegations and campaign on SIR.
The backdrop is the Opposition INDIA bloc's continuing offensive against the Election Commission of India and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR exercise. On Friday, AAP leaders and workers who had been detained during a protest at Jantar Mantar and taken to the Fatehpur Beri police station in south Delhi asserted they were "not afraid of the police" while demanding the CEC's resignation. The Opposition's "vote theft" allegations against Kumar have gained momentum following a media report claiming differences within the poll panel.
The meeting also comes after a recent organisational reshuffle in which former Union minister Smriti Irani replaced Satish Poonia as the BJP's Haryana in-charge. Meanwhile, the BJP has intensified its political activity in Punjab, where the drug menace has emerged as one of its principal campaign issues ahead of the Assembly elections, with the party targeting the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government over its handling of drugs, law and order, and the security situation in the state.
Sources: PM Modi to meet Haryana CM Saini, BJP MLAs in Delhi today
