Modi's Mission 2014 for Maharashtra BJP unit

Party's election campaign committee chief asks to collect social media addresses of 1 lakh persons from all 48 LS seats

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s election campaign committee chief and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today came up with a five-point agenda for the party’s Maharashtra unit in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Modi released his ‘Mission 2014’ agenda during his maiden interaction with the core committee of the state unit. Those who attended the meeting included the general secretary in-charge of Maharashtra, Rajiv Pratap Rudy; the party's national spokesman, Prakash Javadekar; the deputy leader in Lok Sabha, Gopinath Munde; the state unit president, Devendra Phadnavis; the leader of the Opposition in the assembly, Eknath Khadse; and in the council, Vinod Tawde. Other invitees included the national treasurer and Rajya Sabha member of Parliament (MP), Piyush Goel; the former MP, Kirit Somaiya; and the former state president, Sudhir Mungantiwar.

The agenda includes getting the social media addresses of 100,000 persons from all 48 Lok Sabha constituencies, rejuvenating the party organisation, strengthening the block-level party network, reaching out to  voters through a comprehensive plan and weeding factionalism.

Modi stressed on increasing presence among voters, both in person and through social media.

After flak, Uddhav meets Modi
Modi met Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray at his home ‘Matoshree’ in Mumbai in the afternoon. The duo is believed to have discussed the present political conditions and the road map for the Lok Sabha elections. The meeting is on the heels of Thackeray's criticism of Modi for being ‘parochial’ in carrying out relief and rescue operations of Gujaratis in Uttarakhand. Thackeray had clarified his intent was to offer “constructive criticism”.

Thackeray, in his party's newspaper this week,  ran Modi down on two fronts. He chided the chief minister for choosing only Gujaratis as the beneficiary of a recent rescue mission in Uttarakhand, where thousands have been stranded by flash floods. Thackeray added by making Modi its campaign chief, his party, the BJP, has greatly limited its options for political alliances.