BJP chief draws up the plan of action for poll-bound states

Determined to strike gold in the upcoming assembly polls, BJP president Amit Shah has asked the state units of all the four poll-bound states to categorise each constituency on winnability terms, local issues and anti-incumbency of the sitting MLA and send it to the high command by August 10.

Shah along with party general secretaries JP Nadda and Ram Madhav had a three-hour meeting with core committees of Maharashtra, Haryana, J&K and Jharkhand on Wednesday.

While Shah is not in favour of an electoral tie-up with PDP in J&K, he is open to team up with Bakarwals in the Valley and Buddhists in Ladakh. It is understood that Shah categorically dismissed suggestions of state unit leaders that BJP should go alone in the Valley. Nadda has been made in-charge of the J&K state elections.

The BJP doesn’t seem to be in favour of a tie-up with Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress even though the state sentiment was in favour of a non-Jat government. While Shah directed state unit chief Ram Bilas Sharma to dig up electoral issues against the BS Hooda government, he has kept a coalition with the Indian National Lok Dal open. The election in-charge will be minister of state for agriculture Sanjeev Balyan.

Although political exchanges between the BJP and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra have sharpened over the chief ministerial candidate, Shah has discreetly made it clear to the Sena leadership that he is no mood to yield ground. His instructions to party chief Devendra Fadnavis was to fight the electoral battle on an equal footing with Shiv Sena and leaving the issue of CM on poll result.