Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah met with Chief Ministers and deputy Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled States here on Monday to monitor the progress of Central schemes in these States and finalise the plan to undertake a ‘Sushasan Yatra [good governance march]’ in the run- up to the 2019 general election.
“The Sushasan Yatra will highlight the 17 welfare and development schemes of the Central government,” said a source, who did not, however, mention the timetable for the march.
Planning ahead
Last week, Mr. Shah unveiled the party’s road map for the next general election, where it wants to secure 350 Lok Sabha seats. He also earmarked at least 120 Lok Sabha seats where the party wants to make headway.
Speaking to presspersons after the meeting, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that doubling farm income by 2022 and reduction in corruption by increasing digital transactions were also discussed. “Prime Minister Modi provided guidance on how best to implement central schemes especially aimed at the poor and rural households,” he said.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh added that Mr. Modi stressed on increasing transparency in governance and the road map for 2022 in terms of his conception of ‘New India’. “The next meeting will be held after three months for close monitoring of goals set out in this meeting.”
Performance report
The Chief Ministers of various States carried with them presentations detailing the progress made on various Central schemes, their own social media activities and organisational work for the party, and how much time they had devoted to all this since April, when the last such meeting was held.
Linkages of schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to Aadhaar were also discussed.