Special report on National Executive Meet

Striving for a better tomorrow
From Our Special Correspondent

A two-day meeting of the BJP National Executive was held on May 29-30 at Parliament Annexe in New Delhi. Although these meetings are routine business for political parties but this executive meet was very different in some manner. It was the first BJP National Executive meeting under the presidentship of Shri Rajnath Singh. It was also the first after Shri Pramod Mahajan’s unfortunate death. Everybody missed him.

The meeting commenced with the garlanding of the portraits of Bharat Mata, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay. The meeting condoled the death of Pramodji and other leaders, including Bhagwan Shankar Rawat ( Ex MP) , Congress Leader Abdul Ghani Khan Chaudhary, film music director Shri Naushad , noted writers Dr. Nirmal Varma and Dr. Manohar Shyam Joshi, Sarvodaya Leader Shri Siddhrajji, BJP leader from Mathura (UP) Shri Ramakant Lavania, Jana Sangh leader Shri Om Prakash Joshi who died during the last six months and engineer Suryanarayan who was killed in Kabul. A two-minute silence was observed in their memory by the delegates to pay their last respects. Present on the dais were BJP President Shri Rajanth Singh, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Shri LK Advani and Shri Jaswant Singh. After singing of Vande Mataram, Delhi BJP President Dr. Harsh Vardhan welcomed all delegates to the meeting.

In his maiden Presidential speech at the National Executive meeting, Shri Rajnath Singh touched various issues at length and in great detail. He presented a realistic appreciation of the present political scenario in the country and highlighted the glaring failures of the UPA Government. On issues pertaining to party organisation, he laid special emphasis on discipline and coordination.

After the presidential address, States like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, West Bengal and Pondicherry which went to polls in April and May, presented an analysis of the election scenario. Winding up the discussion Shri Rajanth Singh said that the party would draw a separate roadmap to improve BJP’s strength in the southern and north-eastern States.

Congratulating the party leaders from Karnataka where the BJP had recently formed a government, Shri Singh said that we had the strength of numbers in the House and this was the reason why the JD(S) decided to join hands with us. Underlining the need for strengthening the party at grass roots level, he said, where BJP had effective presence the party needed to win the hearts of people and where it had not been able to make its presence felt there was a need to emerge as a force to reckon with. Senior BJP leader Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu and Shri L Ganeshan presented a detailed report on political activities carried out by the party in the southern States.

The second session on the first day was dedicated to the BJP-ruled States whose Chief Ministers or senior ministers where the party was sharing power, gave a detailed account of the development works and projects undertaken by the governments. Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi said that no Public Sector Unit( PSU) in any other State was in profit but Gujarat had been able recover lost ground and its PSUs registered a profit of Rs 250 crores. The State Electricity Board which was running in loss when BJP came to power was turned into a unit earning Rs 2500 crores profit. He said when the Sensex in the country nose-dived, the industries in Gujarat stood like a solid rock.” In spite of scarcity of minerals and raw materials, like coal, the State did not face any power crisis. He also gave details of many welfare schemes and programmes like Krishi Mahotsav, Jyoti Gram Yojana and Chiranjeev Yojana , run by the State government.

MP Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan said the BJP Government was working tirelessly to improve conditions in the State. He outlined the various efforts which government had undertaken in developing power infrastructure, roads and the programmes in the field of education and health. He assured the central leadership that soon the State would come out of the league of developing States to make its way as one of the leading developed States of the country.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje Scindia also apprised the Executive about the development and welfare works initiated by the State government. She informed the executive that more than 300 raths were moving about in the State keeping a close eye on the problems faced by the people so that these could be addressed by the government in right earnest.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh presented a detailed account of the developmental initiatives during the last two-and-a-half years of BJP rule in the State. He told the executive members that people living below the poverty line in the State were getting salt at 25 paise per kilogram. A list of programmes launched exclusively in the tribal areas of the State was presented.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Shri Arjun Munda said though he was running a government with a wafer thin majority, yet it could not prevent him from initiating various welfare programmes and schemes in the State.

Following the same pattern Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Shri Sushil Kumar Modi , senior minister from Orissa, Shri Vishnupad Ray, also gave details of the developmental projects undertaken by their respective State governments.

Summing up, Shri Rajnath Singh said the Chief Ministers should maintain good coordination between party and government and they should also take pains to further strengthen BJP in their States.

The third session was devoted to issues and matters concerning the organisation.

Certain clauses of BJP Constitution were amended by the National Executive with immediate effect.

The second day (May 30) began with the discussion on political resolution moved by BJP General Secretary Shri Arun Jaitley. It was the only resolution adopted by the national executive and it encompassed almost all issues, political and economic in nature. Taking the UPA government to task the resolution underlined the failures of the UPA government in managing the state of affairs in the country.

BJP Vice-President Prof Bal Apte informed the delegates about the various programmes to be taken by the organisation while celebrating the birth centenary of Shri Guruji.

In the end, Shri Venkaiah Naidu addressed a special session on spiralling prices of essential commodities.

The members of National Executive also voiced their concern over the issue of inflation and it was unanimously decided to launch a nationwide agitation against price rise.

It was followed by an address by Shri Lal Krishna Advani and margdarshan by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The speeches by both the leaders were very inspiring to all members of the Executive and the two-day meeting ended on a positive note with a hope for a brighter future for the party.