‘Focus on reservation and corruption’: Details on Amit Shah’s meet with Telangana BJP cadre

To take on TRS, Amit Shah tells workers to hold agitations on reservation, corruption

news Politics

Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah in his latest visit to Telangana has given the party's state unit a clear mandate to start preparing for the General Elections in 2019. He has instructed the party to up the ante against the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi, with a series of state-wide agitations as part of their election strategy.

Shah, in his one-day visit to Hyderabad on Friday, met with party workers and held closed-door meetings with the party's Lok Sabha election management committee at the BJP state office in Nampally.

After the three-hour-long meeting, Shah reportedly tasked the Telangana BJP unit to take up state-wide agitations on topics related to corruption, religion-based reservation and appeasement policies towards minorities adopted by the TRS party, said a senior BJP leader who was privy to the meetings.

"Amit Shah has planned the strategy for the 2019 elections. We have decided on some agitational programmes, decided on constituency in-charges, planned on the parties’ social media strategy for the state. The topic of discussion was all internal issues of the BJP," he said.

In May, BJP had launched a massive outreach programme ‘Sampark for Samarthan (contact for support)’ as part of their 2019 poll strategy. Under this outreach programme, on Friday, Shah is set to meet media tycoon Ramoji Rao, owner of Eenadu, and Srini Raju, the majority shareholder in Associated Broadcasting Company Private Ltd (ABCL), the parent company of TV9 Telugu.

He will also be meeting with ace badminton player Saina Nehwal.

Shah had, in his earlier visit to the state in May, made it clear that BJP intends to fight solo in Telangana. The party has come up with the term ‘Mission 60+’, a mandate to the state cadre to win over 60 seats out of the total 119 Assembly seats to form the government and ‘Mission 15’, to win 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana

"To increase the party strength in the state, Shah discussed a number of issues. The party will be taking up village-wise programmes, and undertake yatras (roadshows) to create awareness about Central government schemes. All this will help increase the party strength from the ground," said the BJP leader. "Shah told that if we increase agitations, it will create confidence among people in BJP and automatically they will come and join BJP.”

However, party workers who braved the Hyderabad rains on Friday were left fuming as the BJP leader did not even greet the cadre who were camping at the Begumpet airport to listen to him speak. Shah had come on to the stage at the VIP reception lounge inside the airport. He waved to the audience, received the garlands, shawls and a turban, but then walked off the stage without meeting workers.