Modi to address BJP chief ministers on Sunday

Modi's pitch will include the need for them to focus on his development agenda with an emphasis on the poor sections of the society.

New Delhi, Apr 22: With the upcoming state assembly polls and next Lok Sabha elections on his mind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the party chief ministers on Sunday and is likely to ask them to focus on the agenda of "good governance and development".

BJP president Amit Shah will also speak to the leaders, that will include 13 chief ministers, five deputy chief ministers and Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj and M Venkaiah Naidu among other Union ministers.

Modi's pitch will include the need for them to focus on his development agenda with an emphasis on the poor sections of the society, party sources said. BJP general secretary Bhupender Yadav said this would be the second meeting of all party chief ministers with Modi since he came to power in 2014.

A similar exercise was held in last August. With the next set of assembly elections due later this year and Modi and Shah already toning up the organisational machinery for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, they are keen to ensure that their governance agenda continue to be part of the public discourse and not be overshadowed by other factors.

Only recently in his address to party leaders in the BJP national executive meet, Modi had spoken about the need for India to take a "long jump" to make rapid progress while Shah had asserted that the saffron party was yet to reach its peak. All the BJP chief ministers along with their counterparts from other states will be in the national capital on Sunday to take part in the Niti Aayog meeting.

PTI