With Assembly elections around the corner in Gujarat, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a series of meetings with office-bearers at the party’s state headquarters, Shree Kamalam, on October 2. He was accompanied by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, party president CR Paatil, and Gujarat BJP co-in-charge Sudhir Gupta. BJP National General Secretary BL Santosh was present at the meeting.

BJP has set up a two-pronged approach to the upcoming elections. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focussing on the sentiments of the public, the second most important man in the party—Shah—is focussing on the organisational setup and implementation of the strategy on the ground.

During a series of meetings with the office-bearers of the party in Gujarat, the in-charge leaders of 182 assembly segments, and the members of the core committee, funding and upcoming programmes of the party were discussed. Itineraries of the election campaigns of various party leaders, publication of pamphlets, and arrangement of rallies were also discussed.

The Saffron party’s focus is to reach out to the masses. “Shah is the senior-most leader of our party after PM Modi. So, obviously, he will bear a lot of responsibilities for the elections. The meetings were part of the preparations,” said an office-bearer.