Eye on 2019 polls, Modi meets CMs of BJP-ruled states
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked chief ministers of BJPruled states to accelerate welfare programmes and work towards achieving the target of flagship schemes.
Modi addressed the chief ministers at a conclave where party president Amit Shah also took stock of the BJP’s organisational preparedness for the next general election due in 2019.
The proposal for holding simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies — an idea that has been endorsed by the Prime Minister — was also discussed at the meeting.
The BJP is in power in 14 states, either on its own or in alliance, and some exit polls say the party could form the next governments in Tripura, Nagaland and also Meghalaya, where assembly elections were held on February 27. Results will be declared on Saturday.
“It was decided to create public awareness about the benefits of simultaneous elections and the negative impact of frequent polls,” Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh told reporters.
The BJP argues enforcement of the model code of conduct in different parts of the country on account of elections was a serious impediment to development, and ‘one-nation-one-election’ is the way forward.
The move will also minimise scope of corruption and misutilisation of public funds, the chief ministers argued at the meeting.
Singh said works done by different states were discussed and deliberations were held on coordinating between the Centre and the state government for effective implementation of the Centre’s recently launched flagship health insurance scheme, dubbed Modicare.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley had in his budget speech announced the National Health Protection Scheme to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries), providing coverage up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.
Several state governments, Singh said, have their own health insurance schemes and coordination was required for implementation of the national scheme in the state.
The chief ministers were also asked to ensure that the target for central schemes such as housing and power to all by 2022 was met.
The chief ministers submitted details on the organisational works done in their states, such as constitution of booth committees and party activities held in the last a few months.