The high-stakes Gujarat polls and the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for 2019 have prompted the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to work towards a strategy for better coordination.
A team of RSS leaders from the western zone and few top BJP functionaries from Maharashtra are expected to meet on Saturday to discuss ways to help the ruling party in Gujarat retain power, said people with knowledge of the development.
The Maharashtra BJP already has decided to send more than 400 party members, including senior ministers, to campaign in Gujarat. On their part, some activists from the Sangh Parivar are also expected to visit the poll-bound state to provide a backup to the BJP.
The efforts towards improved coordination between the two organisations come at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have led from the front to promote the party, which has been in power since 1995. The state goes to polls in two phases on December 9 and 14.
The leaders are also expected to review the performance of the Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who recently completed three years in office. The government has completed its flagship water conservation project Jalyukt Shivar, taking the state's irrigation potential to 40 percent from 17 percent.
Make In Maharashtra, rural and social empowerment schemes and BJP's sterling performance in the local and civic body elections and the statewide growth strategy up to 90,000 polling booths are expected to come up for discussion, said sources.
A strategy to counter Shiv Sena, which has made repeated attempts to target BJP on a range of issues, including loan waiver, will be debated. While Fadnavis has put the ball in Sena's court asking the saffron party to take a call on the alliance with BJP, he has also accused it of double standards.
State BJP president Raosaheb Danve told DNA: "Such meetings do take place periodically. These meetings are part of keep a rapport between the party and the RSS. We do discuss politics but it is not the sole agenda.''
An RSS leader from the western zone who did not want to be named shared Danve's views saying that politics may be discussed for 10 minutes. ''Apart from coordination between RSS and BJP, the contribution of both in the field of rural and social sectors, empowerment of women will be discussed at length.''
The state BJP unit will also step up its efforts to reach out to voters with a slew of decisions taken by the BJP-led government in past three years and its plan for the next two years.
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