Amit Shah holds meeting with party leaders

Ahmedabad, Sep 2: BJP chief Amit Shah today held a meeting with various state party leaders and ministers of Gujarat government to discuss and finalise various programmes to be held in the run-up to the Assembly polls next year.

Shah held discussions with several top BJP leaders and ministers, including Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, newly-inducted state BJP chief Jitu Vaghani, Union Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala and several other leaders at party headquarters in Gandhinagar.

"Our president discussed several issues pertaining to strengthening the party ahead of the 2017 polls. He had detailed talks about the programmes which the party would organise to reach out to people," BJP's state media convener Harshad Patel said.

"He also took feedback about people's response to the Saurashtra-Narmada Avataran Irrigation Yojana (Sauni Yojana) scheme inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi recently at Jamnagar," he added.

Shah is scheduled to visit Gujarat on September 8 again to attend a programme in Surat. "On that day, four Patel leaders of BJP will be felicitated by Patel community for their contribution to the society and the community," he said.

These Patel leaders include Vaghani, Rupala, Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and newly-inducted Union Minister from the state Mansukh Mandaviya.

The upcoming event holds significance for the ruling BJP and the state government led by the party ahead of the state polls, as they have been facing wrath of Patels, a crucial vote bank in Gujarat, due to the ongoing quota agitation. Surat had witnessed large-scale violence during the agitation last year.

The event is expected to send a strong message that the Patel community is no longer angry with BJP and ready to support it in the coming polls.

PTI