Chennai: BJP National President Amit Shah was accorded a rousing reception as he arrived on a day’s visit to the city in a bid to galvanise the Party’s Tamil Nadu unit and devise the strategy for the crucial Lok Sabha election, which was less than an year away. BJP State Unit Chief Ms Tamilisai Soundararajan,Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan and Senior leaders received Mr Shah at the Airport, where party cadres thronged in large numbers.
From the airport, the BJP National President drove straight to VGP Golden Beach Resort, where he would have a series of meetings with the senior party leaders, members of the Sakthi and Maha Sakthi Kendra comprising the grassroot level and booth-level workers. BJP Sources said the visit was part of his nation-wide tour to sensitise cadres for the forthcoming elections, besides he would also meet senior leaders, well wishers and prominent personalities from various wings of the party, to devise the poll strategy. Mr Shah would also meet about 10,000 booth-level workers of the party as part of devising the poll strategy. He would also meet the administrative committee of the party constituted for the next year’s Lok Sabha poll in the state, besides holding an interaction with the party in-charges in each of the 40 Lok Sabha seats (39 in Tamil Nadu and one in neighbouring Puducherry) and prepare them for the elections.
The party has appointed two office-bearers–one designated as in-charge and another organiser–for each of the Parliamentary seats. Before leaving the city after addressing a public meeting, Mr Amit Shah would also meet party office-bearers of Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Meanwhile, elaborate arrangements were made to welcome Mr Amit Shah with party flags and festoons dotting the roads leading from the Airport to the VGP Golden Beach on the ECR. After breaking the Congress dominance in the North and East, the BJP had long been trying to gain a foothold in the South and to some extent it had tasted some success when it managed to form a government in Karnataka earlier. But it suffered a set back in the recent Assembly poll in Karnataka, in which the BJP fell short by numbers prompting the Chief Minister to resign without seeking a trust vote. Now, it has turned its attention to Tamil Nadu, where Mr Amit Shah’s visit was long overdue. On a couple of occasions, his visits to the State were postponed due to some reason or other.
However, with the Lok Sabha poll less than an year away, his visit to the State assumed political significance as the BJP had long been harping that a vacancy exist in Tamil Nadu after the death of the Charismatic J Jayalalithaa and that it would fill in the vacancy. After its umbrella alliance failed to make any impact in the 2014 poll, the BJP was determined to gain a foothold in Tamil Nadu this time, for which choosing potential alliance partners was the key. This aspect was also expected to come up for discussions when Mr Amit Shah meet the Senior leaders of the party. (UNI)