Headlines
A Year in Power: BJP plans to counter opposition onslaught
By
Brajendra Nath SinghNew Delhi, May 5
In a move to counter
opposition parties' attack against the Modi government, the Bharatiya
Janata Party is planning a major outreach programme involving its
ministers and members of parliament.
According to party insiders,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed all his ministers and BJP
parliamentarians to visit their Lok Sabha constituencies and adopted
villages, soon after the budget session of parliament ends on May 8. The
National Democratic Alliance government completes its first year in
office on May 26.
BJP's South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhri told IANS:
"We have been asked to visit our constituencies after the budget
session. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has been spreading
misinformation against the government and we will aim to counter this."
He
said each MP will go to his or her constituency and apprise the people
of the pro-poor steps taken by the government. "A Jan Sampark Abhiyan - a
campaign to contact people - will be carried out to inform the people
as to how misleading Rahul Gandhi's propoganda has been," he said.
The
ministers have also been asked to spend at least one day between May 12
and 30 in the village each has adopted under the government's Sansad
Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY), a party official who did not want to be
identified told IANS.
Modi too is expected to visit his adopted
village, Jayapur, in his Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi in Uttar
Pradesh, possibly on May 26.
This would be his second visit to the village as prime minister, party sources said.
The
decision to start this campaign has been taken following the
opposition's attack on the government, and its bid to paint the
government as anti-poor and pro-corporate, the source said.
Rahul
Gandhi, who has struck an aggressive stance after returning from a
two-month long sabbatical, has apparently been able to make a dent in
the image of the Modi government, calling it a "suit-boot sarkar", feel
some party insiders.
During the stay in their constituencies or
adopted villages, BJP MPs and ministers have been asked to talk about
all the programmes that have been launched by the Modi government to
help the poor.
Added to this will be the three social security
schemes that Modi is scheduled to launch on May 9 in Kolkata. These
include Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti
Bima Yojna and Atal Pension Yojna.