By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal: Stage is all set for the three-day National Executive meeting of rightist Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP), being held here from Friday once again after 11 years.
Addressing a Press conference here BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said the important meeting besides focusing on the ‘Rama Sethu’ (Adam’s bridge) issue along with prevailing current political situation in India, the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh scheduled for November 2008 and the BJP’s strategy to come to power at the Center will be discussed at the meet.
Naqvi said the Indo-US nuclear deal, suicide by farmers and farming policy would be among other issues that were expected to be high on the agenda of BJP National Executive meeting.
The meeting would also discuss the spiraling prices of essential commodities, the issue of Union government’s failure in containing terrorism and UPA Government’s anti-people policies, Naqvi added.
After the 1996 national executive of the BJP here in Bhopal, the party came to power at the Center and the managersof the meeting are hoping that the successful completion of the meet will pave the way for the party to re-capture power at the Center.
The deliberations of the saffron party’s top-brass will also focus on Narendra Modi-led Gujarat as also Himachal Pradesh where elections are scheduled. Elections in Gujarat are expected by December and Modi is facing serious dissidence from his detractors led by former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel.
The political resolution will be adopted on the first day after the presidential address which will expose the Central government’s failure on all fronts, it was stated.
Naqvi informed that former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will not be attending the executive due to health reasons. It is for the first time that the 82-year-old BJP veteran will be skipping the meet.
He said about 200 members of the National executive will be attending the meet which will have eight sessions spread over three days. The participants in the meeting will include several leaders from West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, North-Eastern and southern States.
Prominent among those coming from these States are – West Bengal State president Sukumar Banerjee, Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi, Bihar’s PWD Minister Nandkishore Yadav, Jharkhand’s Leader of the Opposition Arjun Munda, and Pudducherry state president M Vishveshwaram. Others include BJP North-East States’ zonal organisational secretary P Chandrashekhar from Hyderabad, former Union Minister Vijaya Chakraborty, organizational general secretary of Assam Hare Krishna Bharali, Assam’s joint general secretary Fanindranath Sharma, Meghalaya’s State president HS Simleeh, Tripura’s State president Neela Manedeo, Mizoram’s State president Khowel Thanga, Manipur’s State president H Warababu Singh, and Nagaland’s organizational general secretary Avinash Koli.
The second day of the meet will be marked by a public rally to be addressed by all major leaders here at the local Lal Parade ground. Over 200,000 persons are likely to take part in the public meeting.
According to the sources, all ministers and legislators have been issued guidelines to make the public meeting a grand success. Over 10,000 persons are coming from Indore alone. A total of 500 buses have been booked for bringing party workers to Bhopal, while some workers are expected to reach by train.
Meanwhile, the Madhya Pradesh unit of the BJP is going all out to make the National Executive meeting of the party a memorable one. ([email protected])