With eye on 2019 elections, Amit Shah kicks off BJP's massive mass contact drive

Launching his party's "contact for support" drive, BJP president Amit Shah today met former Army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag and former Lok Sabha secretary-general Subhash Kashyap, and announced that 50 lakh party workers would reach every household to inform people about the Modi government's works.

Shah said he informed Suhag and Kashyap about the government's achievements in the four years of its tenure.

Under the exercise -- 'sampark for samarthan', 4,000 BJP functionaries, from Shah and its chief ministers down to panchayat members, have been asked to contact one lakh people who are well-known names in different fields to share with them the government's works.

Shah drove to their residences for a meeting and later told media that his party's attempt is to reach every household in the country.

"The campaign is aimed at informing people about various government initiatives which have resulted in lifting people's living standards," he said, adding that a lot of work had been done to remove the problems people faced in villages and to help the poor live a better life.

In its fifth year, the government will aim to bring about a change in farmers' lives by offering them one-and-a-half times of their input cost for their produce. It will also aim to give Rs 5 lakh health insurance coverage to 50 crore people, he said.

"Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, the country's prestige is at its best in the world since its Independence," Shah claimed.

Fifty lakh BJP workers identified for the exercise will reach every household, he said.

The party has launched the 'sampark for samarthan' exercise to mark the government's fourth anniversary, which fell on May 26, as it prepares for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

PTI