At Hyderabad meet, BJP takes stock of schemes' outreach, slams KCR

The two-day national executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party began on Saturday in Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) amid the tension created by the rival mobilization of forces by the ruling TRS to steal the national limelight.

The capital of Telangana has become the site of an intense war of words for quite some that reached the crescendo on Saturday. When the national executive met for the session with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president JP Nadda and Union minister Piyush Goyal at the helm of affairs, the TRS was extending a rousing reception to Yashwant Sinha, the Opposition’s Presidential nominee.

Accompanied by cabinet colleagues, MPs, and MLAs, chief minister KCR personally received Sinha at Begumpet airport. He was taken to the ITC Kakatiya Grand in a huge cavalcade of cars followed by a bike rally by hundreds of party workers.

Sinha, who flew to Hyderabad from Raipur, later in the day headed to Bengaluru.

Expressing support to Yashwant Sinha, KCR slammed Modi as a salesman of a rich businessman. By pressurizing the Sri Lankan government to accord the contract of a power plant to a particular company, Modi, he said, had tarnished the global image of India. He said the ‘Make in India’ is also a farce. He dared the prime minister to answer all his questions from the dais of Sunday’s public meeting.

Also read: With eye on 2024, BJP strives to oust Shiv Sena from Hindutva space

The ongoing war of words between KCR and the BJP, and KCR not receiving Modi at the airport found its echo even in the national executive meeting.

With KCR skipping the programme, Modi was received at the airport by Governor Tamilisai Sounderarajan and cabinet minister-in-waiting Talasani Srinivasa Yadav.

Though the national executive met to formulate a strategy to take prime minister’s welfare initiatives to the people and evolve a booth-level strategy for the 2024 elections, it could not commence without taking note of KCR’s virulent attack on Prime Minister Modi.

KCR’s refusal to receive the Modi at the airport came in for severe criticism from the National Executive. Party’s spokesperson for the meeting, and union minister Smriti Irani accused KCR of violating the protocol to insult the prime minister. By not welcoming the prime minister, the Telangana chief minister was not insulting the individual but the institution, she said while briefing the media on the proceedings.

“That KCR has disrupted what has been constitutionally federal protocol reflects on him. He disrupted not only the protocol but also the cultural and social ‘maryada’,” she said.

Stating that the politics could be the circus for KCR’s family which was fostering dynastic politics that would not be accepted by India tomorrow.

Dismissing that the Telangana government had a model of development, Irani said an organization that could not fulfill its responsibility of receiving the prime minister could never become a role model for the country.  “TRS believes that serving the family is its responsibility,” she said.

In his inaugural address, party president JP Nadda too attacked KCR indirectly by referring to the family rule being fostered by opposition parties. “While the BJP works to empower the poor and believes in constructive politics, opposition parties empower only select families and are into destructive politics,” Nadda said.

The meeting discussed political and economic resolutions moved by home minister Amit Shah and defense minister Rajnath Singh respectively. According to Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who briefed the media on the economic resolution, the national executive lauded the Agnipath scheme and the government’s plan to create 10 lakh jobs.

Pradhan also said the meeting particularly thanked the prime minister for the successful completion of eight years and for making concern for the poor government’s priority.

The name of Udaipur tailor Kanhailal, who was killed recently by antisocial elements, is also said to have figured in a condolence message passed by the meet.

Earlier in the day, party vice-president Vasundhara Raje said the BJP would finalise programmes that would take the party and the government welfare schemes to the people.

“Organizing booth-level committees will be a crucial programme. The party has a plan to recruit 200 members for every booth across the country and train them in such a way that they would become the first point of contact to the people in the area. Each group will have a WhatsApp group which would play a key role in the election process, “she said.

She said the national executive would fine-tune another programme called ‘Ghar Ghar Tiranga’ which is a campaign to instill a sense of nation in every household. According to the party vice-president, the campaign would reach out to 20 crore people before the next Lok Sabha election.

Also read: Presidential elections, a fight between two ideologies: Yashwant Sinha

Another programme the national executive is expected to discuss is related to beneficiaries of welfare schemes. “Our plan is to connect to 30 crore beneficiaries of Modi government’s welfare schemes with an aim to convert them into a loyal army of the Saffron party,” she said.

Vasundhara Raje also said as per the convention of the national executive, a separate resolution for the host state will come up for a debate in the session.

On Saturday, the meeting began with the lighting of lamps by Prime Minister Modi and party president Nadda.  The deliberations will continue on Sunday and the session will come to a close with a public meeting in the evening. Chief Ministers from 18 states and 348 delegates attended the meeting.