BJP's public meetings on Art 370 to cross 700 due to 'overwhelming response'

Against a target of 370 public meetings, the BJP is now organising over 700 of them across the country due to an "overwhelming response" its plan to enlist popular support for the Modi government's decision to end Jammu and Kashmir's special status has received.

In states like Gujarat and Karnataka, the party said, it will organise a public meeting in every assembly constituency of the two states against 19 and 21 planned earlier respectively there.

"People are so appreciative of the decision. It is evident from the overwhelming response these meetings are getting in different states. In every state, the number of rallies are going up from what we expected. They will go now over 700," BJP national secretary Satya Kumar, who is a co-convenor of the exercise, said.

In states like Bihar, Maharashtra and Odisha, the number of these meetings- most of which are addressed by a Union minister or a senior organisational leader- has gone up from 26, 18 and 20 to up to 45, 45 and 31 respectively.

Top party leaders like BJP president Amit Shah and working president J P Nadda have led the campaign by addressing a number of meetings and projecting the decision to nullify Article 370 as an "achievement" of the government.

They have argued that it will help Jammu and Kashmir's complete integration with the Union, end terrorism there and usher in development.

The party leadership is confident of popular support to the decision and has made this one of its key planks for the upcoming assembly elections in several states.

Even in smaller regions like Puducherry, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the BJP will now hold four and 15 public meetings against one and two proposed earlier, party leaders said.

The BJP has divided the entire campaign into two folds, 'sampark' (contact) and 'jan sampark' (public meetings). Under the contact exercise, which started on September 3, party leaders meet prominent people from different walks to life.

The public meetings began on September 10 and the party believes that it will end up holding more than 700 of them when the campaign ends on September 30.