BJP president J P Nadda has left it for the party's state unit to take a call on whether to contest the upcoming panchayat polls in the state on the party symbol. Nadda had arrived on a two-day visit to Haryana on Friday during which he held a series of meetings with BJP workers, leaders, MLAs, ministers, party's core group and with alliance partner Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).
Panchayat polls are due to be held soon in the state and the election dates are expected to be announced in the coming days. While principal opposition party Congress had last month said that it will not contest the upcoming panchayat polls on its symbol, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is yet to take a decision.
Senior BJP leader Vinod Tawde briefed the media about Nadda's visit to Haryana at a press conference here on Saturday. State BJP chief O P Dhankar, who was also present there, was asked if his party will contest the panchayat polls on the party symbol and whether they will fight these elections in alliance with the JJP.
Replying to the question, Dhankar said, "The party's election committee will take a decision on this once the poll dates are announced. The BJP national president has said that the state unit should take a call on this".
Dhankar said that when the dates of panchayat polls are announced, it will be decided at that time whether the BJP will fight these on symbol and added "if we go for symbol, then the issue of alliance with the JJP (for these polls) will come up otherwise it will remain open for all".
Replying to a question on Nadda's visit, Tawde, who is party's Haryana affairs incharge, said, "The good schemes being run by the government should be taken to the grassroots level via party, cadre, that was the main thing we have discussed".
He, however, skirted a direct reply when asked if the BJP and the JJP will jointly contest the next Assembly polls. Tawde said that in Nadda's meeting with JJP leaders that included Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, issues were dwelled upon on how to have better coordination between the two alliance partners.
According to the BJP general secretary, Nadda said the coordination committee of the two allies should meet once a month. When asked that coordination committee had been formed earlier, Tawde said the meetings could not be held for a long time due to the coronavirus pandemic.
At the government level, the BJP leader said the chief minister and the deputy chief minister keep holding meetings. "As far as our two party organisations are concerned, the BJP national president has given suggestions and we will work on these in coming days," Tawde said.
A lengthy discussion was held on the works done by the ministers concerning their departments. "They were asked about works they were doing in their department. Suggestions were given to the ministers on what more they can do in their respective departments in the remaining over two years, given that the people in Haryana reelected us in 2019. The ministers were also told to prepare a roadmap of that," he said.
"The need for having a better coordination between the party and the government was stressed as it helps good works of the government reach the public effectively," he said.
Nadda had arrived on Friday morning and first held a meeting with party workers in Ambala followed by a public rally in Kaithal. He held a meeting with party leaders in Panchkula later including party MPs and MLAs and also chaired a core group meeting of the state unit.
On Saturday morning, Nadda also met some prominent sportspersons in Panchkula, where he also paid obeisance along with Dhankar at the Mata Mansa Devi temple.
Notably, the BJP had formed government on its own strength in Haryana for the first time in 2014 when it won 47 of the 90 assembly seats, but fell short of simple majority in 2019 winning 40 seats and later forged an alliance with the JJP, which had won 10 seats, to form the government.
"The party's national president gave guidance to the participants of the core committee meeting as to which direction the Haryana BJP should move ahead in," said Tawde. "BJP president's visit is important. He gave many suggestions and if these are followed, the expectations which the people of Haryana have from us, I think we can deliver on that in a better manner," he said.
(With PTI Inputs)
