Deccan Chronicle

Modi to get into poll mode soon

PM to submit report card on May 26 Ministers to begin mass contact progs

- NITIN MAHAJAN | DC NEW DELHI, MAY 24

Sounding the poll bugle for the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls later this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the Union Council of Ministers to embark on a nationwide tour to reach out to the masses for highlighti­ng the NDA government’s achievemen­t on its fourth anniversar­y on May 26.

Leading the charge, the Prime Minister is scheduled to establish contact with people and present his government’s fouryear report card at Cuttack in Odisha on May 26 — the day he took oath four years ago.

The anniversar­y celebratio­ns will have the tagline — Manzil Aa rahi hai paas, desh ka badhta jaata vishwas; Saaf niyat, sahi vikas (The destinatio­n is coming close as nation’s confidence grows; clean intent, right developmen­t).

In its condensed form, the theme will be Saaf Niyat, Sahi Vikas. The government will counter the Opposition’s charges with facts and figures on pro-poor initiative­s taken in the last four years.

The Prime Minister’s Office is finalising a schedule for Union cabinet ministers who will spread the word regarding the people-centric policies of the government and its beneficial schemes through mass contact programmes.

A contact programme has been planned with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the crucial state Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisga­rh later this year. While earlier mass contact programmes for such anniversar­ies were held only for a fortnight, the fourth anniversar­y’s propaganda blitzkrieg is likely to extend over the next few months. The thrust will be on the Prime Minister’s main agenda of empowermen­t of the poor and rural India.

BJP chief Amit Shah is also expected to make a pitch for the Modi government before the media on Friday.

The BJP’s members of Parliament will be deputed to visit their constituen­cies in the mass outreach programme and establish contact with their electorate. This newspaper was the first to report on April 11 that as promised ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will present a report card of his government’s achievemen­ts as part of its four-year celebratio­ns. The PMO had asked all his ministers and ministries to present their respective achievemen­ts comparing these to the promises made by BJP in its 2014 Lok Sabha electoral manifesto.

 ?? — PTI ?? Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday.
— PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday.
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