Narendra Modi ups ante but BJP poll panels inert

There has been no visible activity by the sub-committees since September.

BJPs prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has up-ped the ante against the Congress to mobilise support across the country,but the activities of 20 sub-committees,appointed in July to look into preparations for the 2014 elections,appear to be witnessing a lull.

There has been no visible activity from these committees at the BJP headquarters since September.

After Modis elevation to prime ministerial candidate,the only visible action was launch of a website to collect suggestions from the public by the manifesto committee led by Murli Manohar Joshi,13 days back. It is a lull period, admitted a party leader and member of a sub-committee.

The sub-committees last met on August 1,when the partys Central Election Campaign Committee meeting was held. Several leaders told The Indian Express the sub-committees had held one or two meetings each until then. None could provide a concrete line of action firmed up by them. BJP had constituted 20 sub-committees to assist the Central campaign committee on July 19 under Modi,after he was declared the partys chief campaigner in June. Party chief Rajnath Singh and Modi chaired the meeting of all sub-committees on August 1.

Initially,these committees had shown a flurry of activity,with the IT-committee under MP Piyush Goyal starting with a workshop within a week July 26 followed by initiatives of crowd sourcing by sub-committee on chargesheets,under Gop-inath Munde and Ravi Shankar Prasad August 14 and sub-committee on peoples participation under Dharmendra Pradhan August 18. Since then,there has been little noise around activities of the committees.

The sub-committees were assigned to report to Rajnath Singh on September 29 in the wake of Modis elevation mid-September to partys prime ministerial candidate. But Singh himself has been busy with organisational work.

An overall meeting of all sub-committees will provide a momentum. It will push us all into a tight schedule to deliver, admitted a sub-committee member. Party leaders claim the work is likely to gain momentum after the Delhi elections in December.

Story continues below this ad

They reasoned that the period of inactivity could be utilised by leaders not actively involved in assembly elections to work out the action plan to the last detail. It was envisaged that all sub-committees will start giving results by the beginning of January. But their activities first need to be filtered and streamlined and approved by the top brass, said a committee member. Sources,however,said there was no such meeting planned as yet. Modi has been travelling across the country to mobilise support and boost the morale of cadres. Former party chief Venkaiah Naidu and party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi inauagurated an election war-room. Party sources said it was likely to be used for assembly polls and a full-fledged war-room will be set up for LS elections

Modi slips up again

GANDHINAGAR: IN another goof-up,BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday described the Statue of Liberty as the tallest statue in the world. Aapde ekta nu smarak banava nu nakki kariyu che duniya nu avthi motu statue. Atyare duniya nu savthi matu statue che Statue of Liberty America ma We have decided to make a memorial for unity the worlds tallest statue. At present,the tallest statue in the world is the Statue of Liberty in America, said Modi. However,the Modi-headed trust which is building the Sardar Patel statue,on its website statueofunity.in,has listed the Spring Buddha in China 153 metres as the tallest statue in the world,followed by Ushiku Daibutsu 120 metres in Japan,and then the Statue of Liberty 92 metres. ENS