Modi urges party workers to cement hold over poll booths
2019 PLAN Tells partymen to follow mantra of ‘mera booth sabse mazboot’ in runup to polls NEW DELHI:
The wind is blowing in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s favour and opposition parties are clutching at each to withstand its force, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday while exhorting party workers to follow the mantra of ‘Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot’ (my polling booth the strongest) to ensure victory in the next general elections.
Addressing party workers of five Lok Sabha constituencies via the NaMo app, Modi said the BJP’s biggest strength is its workers. Their hard work has ensured the party’s historic success and progress in a short span of four years, he added.
He attributed the party’s success to its workers and their grip over their respective polling booths.
“‘Mera Booth Sabse Mazboot’ ...this is the only mantra and this is our strength,” he said in a video interaction.
Replying to a question on opposition parties stitching an alliance for the 2019 polls, Modi assured the party workers that the BJP will win again.
“... the wind is blowing in favour of BJP, even stronger than 2014. That’s why opposition parties are clutching each other’s hands to save themselves from being blown away.”
The Prime Minister also urged party workers to continuously interact with voters of their respective constituencies and ensure that at least 20 families and youth are working with the party in every polling booth.
He was addressing workers from five constituencies — Jaipur (Rural), Nawada, Ghaziabad, Hazaribagh, Arunachal West— in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Arunachal Pradesh.
Modi, who was nominated the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate this day in 2013, said only in the BJP can an ordinary party worker become its leader. He also asserted that someone else can also take his place tomorrow.
Lashing out at the Congress, the Prime Minister said it is, unlike the BJP, a one family party. He said he felt pity for dedicated workers of the opposition party.
“Many capable and committed workers of the Congress were sacrificed for interests of the family,” he said.
The opposition is resorting to lies in its campaign but today people in the country are awake while opposition is not ready to come out of its slumber, the Prime Minister said.
PM LIKELY TO REVIEW STATE OF ECONOMY
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to hold a meeting to discuss the country’s economy this weekend, according to multiple reports, which triggered a sharp recovery in the rupee, which has shed 12% of its value this year.
According to reports by news agencies Press Trust of India (PTI) and Newsrise, possible fiscal and monetary steps will be discussed at the meeting which will include the country’s top finance officials. Both cited people who asked not to be named.
“Finance minister Arun Jaitley, NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chairman Bibek Debroy and finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia are among the officials who are likely to attend the meeting on Saturday,” news agency PTI quoted officials as saying.
Fiscal and monetary measures cannot be ruled out after the review meeting, nor a rate hike by the central bank, television channels said earlier in the day, prompting a recovery in rupee from record lows. Indeed, talk of an unscheduled increase in the rate (between two meetings of the Monetary Policy Committee) has been doing the rounds for a few days.