NEW DELHI: BJP president Amit Shah would visit Kerala next month to discuss matters relating to expanding the party-led NDA in the state, a senior leader said on May 8.
BJP is ready to hold talks with any political outfit that accept the NDA’s policies, the party’s Kerala president Kummanom Rajasekharan told reporters after a meeting of party leaders and MPs here.
Rajasekharan said a delegation of BJP MPs would visit Munnar in highrange Idukki district on May 14 where the recent move to remove encroachments on government land triggered a controversy. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting of BJP members held here,” he said.
The delegation would submit a fact-finding report on the encroachments and its effect on environment to Centre. The objective of the visit is to seek ‘Centre’s intervention’ on the Munnar encroachment issue, he said.
The delegation would include Rajya Sabha member Suresh Gopi, Kerala NDA Vice Chairman Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP, and former union minister and MLA, O Rajagopal, he said. He alleged that successive governments of LDF and UDF had abetted encroachments in Munnar during their rule.
Asked about the possibility of Kerala Congress (M) led by former Finance Minister K M Mani joining NDA, Rajasekharan said: “first let them come out with their stand.” KC-M after snapping its three-decades old ties with Congress-led UDF last year was keeping equidistantance from both UDF and LDF. Its relation with UDF soured recently after it joined hands with CPI-M to wrest the Kottayam District Panchayat administration from Congress control.
Referring to the all party meet held by the government to discuss the eviction drive, Rajasekharan said the meeting should have discussed matters related to providing land to landless and not for removing encroachments. Rajasekharan said the state government has failed to implement welfare schemes initiated by the Centre and accused the state government of not spending funds allotted by the Centre.
After his erala trip, the BJP president will come to Telangana on a three-day visit beginning May 22 to strengthen the party from polling booth level, state BJP president K Laxman said on May 12.
Shah would visit Nalgonda district during the tour, which is part of ‘Vistarak Yojana’ taken up to strengthen the party from grassroots level, he told reporters. Shah would interact with members of polling booth committees and also people belonging to different sections at different villages, Laxman said.
The BJP national president would address the members of polling booth committees of Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency, currently represented by MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, on the evening of May 24, he said.
MIM has been winning Hyderabad parliamentary constituency since 1984. BJP would make efforts to win over the votes of poor minorities in Hyderabad parliamentary constituency, he said.
After Shah’s visit, BJP would take up a campaign to reach out to every village and to carry Modi government’s policies to every household, the BJP leader said. Replying to a query, he said BJP would like to go alone in the 2019 elections.