New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday knocked on the doors of former army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag and former Lok Sabha secretary-general Subhash Kashyap, launching the party's ambitious contact programme for the 2019 parliamentary polls.
Shah first met Suhag at his home in Delhi Cantonment and handed him a booklet and a pen drive outlining the achievements of the Narendra Modi government. The BJP leader then drove to Gurgaon to meet Kashyap, regarded as a constitutional expert.
The drive named "Sampark for Samarthan (contact for support)" is a door-to-door campaign to seek support for Modi's re-election. Shah said the plan was to approach every voter before the Lok Sabha polls next year.
"Four thousand elected representatives of the BJP will contact 1 lakh eminent personalities from various fields such as art and culture, retired defence personnel, religious leaders, etc. Apart from this, 50 lakh elected representatives of the BJP will knock at every house in the country," Shah said after meeting Kashyap.
Given the BJP's stress on "nationalism" as a political weapon and its practice of citing the army to attack the Opposition, the meeting with the former army chief to seek his support for the party sparked allegations of efforts to politicise defence personnel.
BJP leaders rejected the charge saying the retired general was also a voter.
RSS meet
Modi's ministers were closeted with RSS leaders for the second day in a row on Tuesday. Finance and railway minister Piyush Goyal and commerce and civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu attended Tuesday's talks.
On Monday, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, health minister J.P. Nadda, social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot and culture minister Mahesh Sharma had attended. Shah is also participating in the meetings.
While the RSS firmly rejected suggestions of the four-day meetings being held for "coordination" between the BJP and the Sangh to counter the challenge posed by a united Opposition, sources said the meetings were aimed at achieving "synergy".
"Inspired by the RSS, swayamsevaks are active through 35 organisations in various walks of life. Organisations working in the same field occasionally come together to share their experiences and observations," RSS all-India publicity chief Arun Kumar said. "These are not coordination meetings, neither are these decision-making meetings."
The sources, however, said the participation of key ministers indicated the importance of the meetings. "Key issues are being discussed. Different wings of the RSS are presenting their views and sharing feedback on policy matters before the ministers concerned," an RSS leader said.
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and the Laghu Udyog Bharati attended Tuesday's meetings and gave feedback on the economic policies. The oil price rise, Air India divestment and issues concerning the medium and small scale sectors were discussed, the sources said.
