BJP to organise workshops for OBC leaders across India

With an eye on the next Lok Sabha polls, the BJP will organise training workshops across the country for its leaders from backward castes and OBC morchas with a focus on Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, party sources said.

OBC leaders who have joined the BJP will also be invited to the meetings. The strategy to retain the party's base and expanding it among other backward caste voters will be shared during the workshops, they said.

At least one training session will be organised in each state, while six such meetings are planned in Uttar Pradesh and three in Bihar, they said, adding that party chief Amit Shah is expected to attend the national workshop.

All the workshops will be organised in July-August.

A decision in this regard was taken at a brainstorming session for training of OBC morchas at the party office here, which was addressed by its general-secretary Muralidhar Rao.

"Both Congress and Left parties have failed on politics of transforming and empowerment of backward and down trodden sections of the society. Influence of both have significantly diminished among backwards with the arrival Sh Narendra Modi ji at the national scene," Rao said.

The BJP has emerged as a party with a national footprint and following among all sections of society, he said, adding that it is seen as a party working for inclusive development and there is an emotional connect between people from backward sections and the Modi government.

Asserting that there is a goodwill among OBCs after the BJP tried to give constitutional status to the backward commission and opposition curtailed its move in Rajya Sabha, Rao asked BJP leaders to transform this positivity for the party into its base.

The Modi government's pro-OBC decisions, including abolishing interviews for class-IV employees, formation of a sub-committee to target more backwards in the community and raising the creamy layer ceiling, will be highlighted to reach out to the politically crucial grouping, leaders who were present in the meeting said.