New Delhi: The central election committee (CEC) of the BJP is expected to meet on March 18 to decide the names of candidates for parliamentary seats goi-ng to the polls in the first phase of the total seven-part Lok Sabha polls, beginning on April 11.
With the election dates being announced, the BJP held a series of meetings on Monday to devise its poll strategy.
Meetings of party spokespersons, general secretaries and also the manifesto committee headed by Union home minister Rajnath Singh were held during the day.
The BJP, which is trying to build the poll narrative around the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Monday said the yet-to-be formalised “Mahagathb-andhan” (grand alliance) of the Opposition parties was a “self-destructive coalition of rivals” and asserted that voters will have to chose between “Modi or chaos”.
The ruling party, which is seeking a second term under Mr Modi’s leadership, asserted that “one of the principal issues which occupies foremost relevance” in the 2019 general election is the leadership issue.
“What was promised to be a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ is turning out to be a ‘gathbandhan’ of several conflicting gathbandhans. It is a self-destructive ‘coalition of rivals’,” said Union finance minister Arun Jaitley in a blog highlighting the conflicts among the parties in the coalition against the BJP-led NDA.
He wrote that the leadership issue in the Opposition camp is an “absolute puzzle” and that Congress president Rahul Gandhi is an “inadequate leader”.
