The three-day meetings of the national executive and the national council of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which began here on Friday, are likely to form a strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections.

Under the new president, Rajnath Singh, the party will also find ways to strengthen the protests against the policies of the United Progressive Alliance Government.

Singh has set the tone for the party’s opposition against the Budget too.

Inaugurating the meetings, he termed the Budget as jugglery of words. He said Finance Minister P. Chidambaram gave no suggestions to generate employment and income. He said while the Government cut down the subsidies for the poor, corporate companies got more than five lakh crore as incentives.

Patting the BJP-ruled States, Singh said the Centre could maintain a “precarious” growth rate of about five per cent because of the efforts by the BJP-ruled States. He said States such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh maintain a growth rate of 10 per cent on an average.

A tough task before Singh will be to ensure unity among the leaders of the party. The group rivalries in the party became visible once again during the issue of re-election of Singh’s predecessor, Nitin Gadkari. Also, there is pressure on the party to announce a candidate for the Prime Minister’s post ahead of the general elections, scheduled in 2014. A group of leaders has already demanded that Narendra Modi should be announced as the Prime Minister candidate of the party.

Karnataka is another headache for Singh. There are reports that the Election Commission has already initiated the process to finalise dates for Assembly polls in the State. The meetings will see discussions on revitalising the party in the Southern stronghold.

Discussions on strengthening organisation at various levels are also expected in the meetings.

jigeesh.am@thehindu.co.in

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