BJP President Amit Shah said on Saturday that his party has ushered in an era of “politics of performance” in the country and asked the states to play a big role in the implementation of schemes and to bring in good governance.
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In a close-door session that lasted through the day, Modi got the chief ministers to commit to common schemes with identical goals and execution timelines to reach out to the have-nots in a mission mode to define politics during the Assembly polls to important states of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat early next year and in 2019.
The BJP, helmed by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, spoke the language of the socialists at a daylong meet of party chief ministers here today. “The way the world looks at India has changed”. “Therefore, states could play a vital role in success of the Modi government’s pro-poor policies”, said Shah.
He said the governance and not politics was the agenda of the meeting, when he was asked if recent controversies or UP elections also figured in the deliberations.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh said that the state government has successfully implemented schemes such as distribution of free “charan padukas”, sarees, insurance scheme, free power supply to “aja and jaja”, caste certificate and school level, pota cabin and distribution of “chana” at cheaper rates to remove malnutrition for them.
Mr Chouhan, Mr Fadnavis, Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das and senior leader Vinaya Sahasrabuddhe are members of the “Garib Kalyan Agenda” committee, which will submit its report within two weeks. Modi said a committee would be formed to finalise the agenda for welfare of the poor in these states.
All chief ministers except Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan attended the exercise.
Later, briefing the media about the meeting, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis said a presentation was made by the BJP-ruled states of their work and what they plan to do, especially in the field of agriculture, women’s empowerment and employment.
“States play an important role in the development of the country”.
He said 37 per cent of India’s population resides in BJP-ruled states, which also account for about 52 per cent of the country’s geographical area and 41 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP). “Of course”, he added, “the PM would like all states to do it but this was said at a meeting of the BJP’s chief ministers”. “The thrust should be on faster and better implementation of the schemes in the BJP-ruled states”, Chouhan quoted Modi as saying.
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The BJP will soon come out with a pro-poor development agenda listing successful schemes and programmes already run by party-ruled states, which can then be replicated across the country.
