Amit Shah guides Gujarat BJP on 2019 Lok Sabha poll strategy

Ahmedabad, Jun 25: The Gujarat BJP discussed its strategy for winning all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2019 general election at a brainstorming session on Tuesday, where party president Amit Shah guided the leaders on how to achieve the goal.

The state unit of the ruling party said the Lok Sabha polls will be a fight to "preserve the sovereignty" of the country and nationalism. Shah attended the "chintan shibir" (brainstorming session) of the Gujarat BJP and guided its leaders as regards winning all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won all the seats in the home state of Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The two-day session, which ended at the SGVP campus today, was organised to prepare a road-map to retain all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in the state, Gujarat BJP president Jitu Vaghani said. Several key Gujarat BJP leaders, including Vaghani, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and the party's in-charge for the state, Bhupender Yadav, attended the session.

Talking to reporters after the session, Vaghani said the 2019 Lok Sabha polls will not be an ordinary event. "This election is not a regular one. It is an election to preserve the country's sovereignty. The formation of a government led by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi again is necessary to deal with countries that are either our enemies or competitors," he added.

Vaghani exuded confidence that the BJP will emerge victorious in this fight. "Unlike the Congress, which believes in creating enmity between communities for political gains, the BJP believes in preserving the national fabric. The upcoming Lok Sabha election is all about preserving nationalism. It is about keeping the nation first," he said.

During the "shibir", which was divided into different sessions, the leaders discussed various geographical and social factors related to the Lok Sabha constituencies. They also deliberated on programmes to be launched in the coming days to reach out to the masses, Vaghani said. Tomorrow, Shah will hold poll-related meetings with Gujarat BJP leaders at the party's state headquarters -- Shri Kamalam -- in Gandhinagar, he added.

Shah is also scheduled to hold a meeting with BJP leaders to review the party's strategy as regards the two Lok Sabha seats in the Union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, adjoining Gujarat.

In the evening, the BJP chief will attend an event organised by the party's state unit to felicitate those who were detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) during the Emergency imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, Vaghani said.

PTI