HYDERABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a one-of-a-kind meeting with BJP corporators from Hyderabad and called upon them to work closely with the people. He told them that if they continued to work hard, then victory would be possible.
Modi, who agreed to a request from the state BJP leaders for the meeting, later Tweeted stating that the meeting saw ‘wide-ranging discussions on focus on community service endeavours and help people at the grassroots’. He further said, “The BJP will work for good governance and ending dynastic misrule in Telangana.”
Seventy-eight BJP leaders, including 46 corporators, met Modi at his official residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg in New Delhi. The state BJP leaders had hoped that Modi would be able to have an interaction with the party leaders from the city during his short visit to the city on May 26, but that did not materialise. This had led to some disappointment and noticing the discontent among the city party leaders, the state leadership requested Modi for an interaction.
The BJP has been making it clear at every opportunity that it is now determined to win the next Assembly elections in Telangana, and a series of visits by Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, party president J.P. Nadda and senior leaders has underlined the importance the party is placing on Telangana.
Though there were some muted rumbles in the Hyderabad BJP every now and then that, it was not figuring in anything important that the party was doing in the state, Tuesday’s meeting at the Prime Minister’s official residence is expected to give a big shot of energy for the BJP in the city.
The meeting was scheduled for 30 minutes. But with Modi speaking individually to the corporators asking them about their well-being, about their spouses, and children, the meeting went on for nearly an hour. When some of the corporators asked Modi to visit the Bhagyalakshmi temple at Charminar when he is in the city during the first week of July for the BJP’s national executive meet, Modi replied in the affirmative.
Moosapet corporator Mahender said, “The Prime Minister told us that if we worked hard, the BJP would win. He complimented us for our win in the GHMC polls. ‘Be with the people. You are the party. Your behaviour will reflect on the party’, he said.”
The meeting was also attended by Union minister G. Kishan Reddy, state BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, the recently elected Rajya Sabha member and senior party leader Dr K. Laxman, MLA D. Raja Singh, former MLAs N.V.S.S. Prabhakar and Ch. Ramachandra Reddy, and former MLC N. Ramchander, along with party spokesperson N.V. Subhash.
Before meeting Modi, the BJP corporators who were hosted in the afternoon by Kishan Reddy at his residence and met with Union minister for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, visited the BJP national headquarters and had a brief meeting with B.L. Santosh, the party’s national general secretary.
