Hyderabad: BJP President Amit Shah concluded his two day visit to Hyderabad with a clarion call to party leaders and workers in Telangana to spare no effort to strengthen the party so that Telangana, along with the entire south and eastern region of the country, can play a major role in BJP’s victory in the 2019 elections.
Shah, who addressed the village unit presidents of the party from all over the state, laid a road map for strengthening the party in Telangana. Shah also met many leaders including Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the second day of his visit.
Addressing a meeting of the Telangana state executive, Shah set a target for the state unit to garner 40 per cent of the vote by the next elections. “To achieve this goal we should take the party to the people in a big way,” he was quoted as saying in the closed-door meeting. He told leaders that only those who can devote their time to the party should occupy the posts. He cautioned that without strengthening the organisational structure, the party cannot hope to do well in the elections.
“You should not become complacent thinking we are in power at the Centre. You should work keeping in view the fact that the party was in opposition in the state,” he said.
He gave the same message to the village unit presidents to maintain a close rapport with the masses and highlight their problems, especially the problems of farmers.
Addressing the objection of some state leaders to the alliance with the TDP, Shah asked them to leave it to the central leadership of the party. “If we are strong no problem will come in our way,” he said.
On Friday, Shah met Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu over breakfast and discussed the prevailing political situation. As it was Shah’s first visit to the state after the last elections, they also discussed how the TDP-BJP alliance worked on the ground.
The meeting assumed significance in the light of recent statements of Telangana state BJP leaders that the alliance with the TDP had adversely affected the party’s prospect in recent elections in Telangana. BJP won only one Lok Sabha and five assembly seats in Telangana.
During the two-day visit, Shah also met Andhra Pradesh BJP Unit leaders and asked them to take up the work of strengthening the party. He said that he will visit Andhra Pradesh after the current budget session of the state assembly ends.
He urged the leaders to work to expand the party base and also to strengthen the brotherly relations between the Telugu people of the two states.
