The decision to assign this responsibility to Modi and to decentralise the preparations for the elections were taken at the BJP national assembly.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has placed full faith in Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, making him responsible for the poll strategy and organisational setup for the states of Maharashtra and Goa and union territories of Diu, Daman and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, in addition to Gujarat, for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
The decision to assign this responsibility to Modi and to decentralise the preparations for the elections were taken at the BJP national assembly held in Nagpur recently.
Modi may also be asked to lead the election campaign in other states and union territories. Party spokesperson IK Jadeja said the Gujarat chief minister may work as a campaigner as per the needs of the BJP, and if so decided by the party high command. “We already have our programme running, which will go on for the next 30 to 40 days,” he said.
“This is probably the first time that Modi as chief minister has been made the election in-charge of a state, but it is not a new role as he had earlier handled Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh,” said BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas, adding; “He is capable of handling such assignments.”
However, certain factions within the BJP are monitoring the developments closely since they are not sure about the chief minister doing justice to all his duties. During earlier assembly polls and the last parliamentary elections, Modi had performed his duty as ‘star campaigner’ in other states; but his responsibility this time around will be greater, with more states and regions assigned to him.
The BJP had won 14 seats in Gujarat against the Congress’s 12 in the last Lok Sabha elections. Looking at the party’s development agenda for the state, the BJP seems to be aiming for maximum possible seats in the next elections. Further, Modi will have to counter the Congress as well as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra and Goa.
“Modi has command over the organisational setup in Gujarat. Most of the Lok Sabha candidates will be his choice,” a source monitoring the developments said. “However, we will have to see how he fares in other states, if he will come out victorious,” the source further said.
The chief minister is likely to share the responsibility of the state with his loyal strategists here. A source said, “If the high command has decided to enlist Modi’s services for this, the decision was definitely made after taking him into confidence.”
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