Gadkari to unleash strategy at BJP meet today

Indore: A packed three-day meeting of the BJP's national executive began in Indore today. The meet is expected to reveal the path that new chief Nitin Gadkari will take the party on.

Coming in the backdrop of the Pune blast and the BJP's objection to talks with Pakistan, the meet will also see the party's nationalist line being sharpened just before Parliament opens for the budget session.

All eyes are on Nitin Gadkari, who has his work cut out for him. To pull a big party out of the doldrums. His strategy - reconnect with the people. At the back of his mind is the challenge posed by Rahul Gandhi's all-out efforts to be the people's man. (Read/Watch: Gadkari pulls a Rahul before BJP meet)

The youngest BJP president ever, has been making it known that his new strategy too is to reach out to people, and his priority is to approach the Schedule Castes. So he did a Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday by lunching at a Dalit's home along with other senior party leaders. He is expected to follow it up with more such meals during the next three days.

Gadkari began his Indore trip by invoking the blessings of the God of new beginnings at the Bada Ganesh temple. "I prayed for strength for my partymen so that they can serve the poor and take the nation forward. I prayed for everyone's well being", he said.

The idea is to work like Rahul Gandhi, but attack the Congress. During the next three days Gadkari will present a counter to the Congress' main weapon by asking each BJP leader to espouse and head one social cause. And through the Antyodaya scheme, reconnect with the aam admi.

Since the party's shrill campaign against terror in the last Lok Sabha polls backfired, Gadkari's call will be to attack the UPA on constructive issues like price rise and terror.

The Pune blast has given the BJP more firepower to attack the UPA with. A terror threat to its conclave has added to its ammunition. The camp, which was to be the picture of austerity, now looks like a warzone with 3000 policemen, 1600 surveillance cameras, bomb disposal squads and constant checks of the 1200 tents for leaders. An opportunity for the Opposition party to emphasize that the government has failed to counter terror or tame Pakistan.

The idea behind the austere conclave in canvas, however, remains. In keeping with Gadkari's strategy, the BJP leaders will be living in tents and riding cycles to connect with the aam aadmi. And, no doubt, to keep up with Rahul Gandhi.

BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar sums it up succinctly: "Any living organism keeps doing course correction to tackle new challenges and to appeal to the younger generation."
 
Meeting Agenda

The three-day meet will begin today with a ceremonial endorsement of Gadkari's election by the last party president Rajnath Singh.

Gadkari will speak thereafter and by afternoon, the main Opposition party will get down to work discussing strategy for forthcoming elections in Bihar and Assam. Also on the agenda on the first day of the meet is planning the next phase of the campaign on price rise.

The next two days will be action-packed too. Senior leader Arun Jaitley will move a resolution on national security. It will target the UPA government at the Centre for what the BJP calls its failure to tackle terror and Naxalism. The focus, however, will be on the Indo-Pak talks. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is expected to speak.  

For the first time ever, a resolution on the environment will be moved, with former HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi making a presentation. The party will discuss the Copenhagen summit, environmental concerns and in particular, the Ganga shuddhi abhiyan (exercise to clean the Ganga).

Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha will move the economic resolution - the new slogan, "Sushasan, Vikas and Antyodaya" (good governance, development and Antyodaya - work for social causes scheme).