Hyderabad to host BJP's national executive meet next month

Hyderabad, June 1 (IANS) With an eye on next year's Assembly polls in Telangana, the BJP will hold its national executive meeting in Hyderabad in the first week of July.

BJP's central leadership has decided to hold the key meeting on July 2 and 3 in the city, party sources said. The meeting of the key-decision making body will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President J.P. Nadda, several Central ministers and Chief Ministers of all BJP-ruled states, among others.

The Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) and the adjacent Novotel Hotel in Hitec City, the information technology cluster, will be the venues for the crucial meeting.

Some central leaders of the party, including general secretary B.L. Santosh, Tarun Chug along with Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar and others on Wednesday visited the HICC and the adjoining HITEX Exhibition Centre to discuss the arrangements for the proposed meeting.

The leaders also went around a few star hotels and resorts in and around the city. Modi is likely to stay at the Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the Governor, for two days while the central ministers and the Chief Ministers will stay at star hotels.

Around 300 representatives are expected to participate in the meeting, which will discuss various organisational matters and evolve the party's strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh scheduled later this year.

The functioning of all the state units will be also discussed during the meeting, sources said, adding that the party's agenda for the future will also be discussed and finalised at the meeting.

The decision to hold the national executive in Hyderabad came close on heels of visits by Modi and Shah amid an aggressive strategy being adopted by the saffron party ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls in the state.

Modi, who visited Hyderabad last week to participate in the foundation celebrations of the Indian School of Business (ISB), also addressed BJP cadres at the Begumpet Airport.

He claimed that winds of change are blowing in the state and the BJP will come to power to end what he called the 'family rule' of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Party insiders feel that the national executive will send a strong message to the ruling TRS and also give a boost to the party's efforts on the ground.

The BJP and the ruling TRS are on loggerhead on several issues. In January this year, Telangana BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar was arrested by the state police. The Telangana police had claimed that the BJP leader was arrested for violation of Disaster Management Act during a protest.

The last national executive of the BJP was held in the national capital in November last year.

Last month, BJP's national office-bearers' meet was held in Rajasthan, which will also go to the polls next year.