Demonetisation, surgical strikes will dominate polls: BJP

The Special Protection Group (SPG) responsible for the security of the Prime Minister and previous PMs and their immediate family members is going to buy four units of Toyota Land Cruiser 200, a high-end Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), for the PM’s cavalcade.

The SPGs, according to officials, currently uses vehicles of BMW 7 series, Mahindra Scorpios and Tata Safaris in its cavalcade.

The SPG has decided to buy the powerful Toyota Land Cruiser because of its ceiling height and other “obvious” features that are needed for a vehicle that is engaged for “protection and security purpose”.

The seven-seater Toyota 200 has a host of inbuilt security features like 10 airbags (front, curtain, side), downhill assist control, hill start assist control and vehicle stability control. The vehicle will see certain additional modifications as per the requirement of the SPG.

“The vehicle was chosen after careful deliberation on the basis of our present needs and demands. Technical specifications like the performance of suspensions on bumpy roads, turning radius, torque, its ability to perform on different and difficult terrains and the fact that it can reach the speed of 150 km/hr in less than 20 seconds was some of the factors that were taken into account while deciding on the vehicle,” an official said.

Prime Minister Modi is expected to be on the road for increasingly longer periods of time because of the Assembly elections in five states, including Uttar Pradesh where he will be required to address public rallies in rural areas where he will have to travel with his convoy. Demonetisation and surgical strikes in PoK would be major poll issues during the coming Assembly elections in UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.

This was conveyed to BJP leaders across the country by president Amit Shah, during the two-day national executive meeting, held at the NDMC convention centre here. The meeting concluded on Saturday.

Briefing mediapersons about the meeting, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, spoke about the need to make our political process more transparent, particularly political funding. The Prime Minister, according to him, also said there is a need to transform the lives of the poor. “Gareebi humare liye seva ka avsar hai, gareeb ki seva prabhu (God) ki seva ke sammaan hai,” he said.

The Prime Minister, according to Prasad, said during the meeting that the people of India supported the government’s demonetisation decision in the last two months, despite difficulties. “People are with us in fighting corruption, which is a big social evil. We should all work together during elections and ensure victories in the upcoming Assembly elections,” Modi said during the meeting.

The economic resolution passed by the meeting on Saturday said: “The BJP believes that the trust the people of this country have shown in the firm decisions taken by the Prime Minister and their implementation by the Central government should be complemented by a campaign to establish a dialogue with the people of our country. The party workers in form of a campaign should take digital economy, transparent governance, decisive leadership and dialogue with the common men to the people of this country. Integral humanism teaches that everyone in our society should be able to take decision that are good for everyone.”

Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “Fi- nance Minister Arun Jaitley moved the economic resolution in which he went on to explain the details on why demonetisation was a necessary move. He also spoke on how this demonetisation was different from the previous instance.”

Sitharaman said that this was the promise made by the BJP in the 2014 in Lok Sabha elections. Its main aim was to contain black money, remove counterfeit currency to terminate the lifeline of terror groups.”

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, quoting Amit Shah, said: “All survey have given overwhelming support to the demonetisation move. The poor are standing by the government. Both demonetisation and surgical strikes will be remembered as historic decisions. Party’s victory in various elections after these moves pointed to big acceptance by the people.”

During the two-day meeting, the party leaders discussed and reviewed the ground situation in pollbound states.