Shah in Kozhikode for NC meet; Poverty, terror issues on agenda

Kozhikode: Giving thrust to poverty alleviation efforts, BJP's top brass is expected to articulate its 'garib kalyan' agenda to reach out to the mariginalised like dalits as it meets for the three-day National Council from Friday, which could also see a tough message being sent out on terror in the wake of Uri attack.

BJP President Amit Shah arrived here Thursday for the meet which coincides with the birth centenary of its ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay.

"Reached "Shilpa Nagaram"-City of Sculptures(Kozhikode) for BJP National Council. Grateful to the people of Kerala for their love and support," Shah tweeted after he was welcomed by party workers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive here on Saturday and speak at a public meeting, his first such address after the deadly attack in Uri which left 18 army personnel dead. He will address the Council on Sunday.

Party leaders and cadres expect him to speak on Uri attack as the saffron outfit has under fire over repeated incidents of Pakistani terrorists targeting defence facilities, more so as Modi had often flayed the UPA government over its alleged soft attitude to Pakistan in the face of terror incidents.

While the Uri incident has forced the party to recalibrate its agenda for the Council, likely to be attended by nearly 2,000 delegates, it is likely to use the occasion to reprise the poor-centric ideology of Upadhyay, who was elected its president in 1967 at the same venue and whose 100th birth anniversary falls on September 25.

The party had earlier formed a committee under the leadership of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to prepare a 'garib kalyan' (welfare of poor) agenda under which its state governments will be asked to achieve certain key objectives in various welfare schemes.

BJP believes that an effective implementation of the agenda can help it reach out more to the marginalised sections, especially Dalits and OBCs, as it has been facing flak over Dalit issues from opposition parties and some Dalit outfits.

Modi will inaugurate Upadhyay's birth centenary celebrations which will go on for over a year.

Party leadership is also expected to deliberate over assembly polls in several states scheduled for early next year, including in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.

BJP has been out of power in UP for over 14 years and Shah has claimed that it will make a come back with two-third majority by trouncing formidable regional rivals like Samajwadi Party and BSP.

Cases of violence against the BJP and RSS functionaries in the Left-ruled Kerala are also expected to be referred to by the leadership which has blamed CPI(M) for these incidents.