Sitharaman held review meetings in 3 constituencies to assess poll preparedness.
NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha poll in-charge for Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to submit the assessment report for seven MPs in Delhi by the first week of March.
Sitharaman has held review meetings in three Parliamentary constituencies—West Delhi, North West Delhi and Chandni Chowk—and will be completing the exercise by this month end.
The meetings were held to assess the BJP’s preparedness for the general elections slated to be held in April-May. Sources said that the assessment report will have a direct bearing on the selection of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.
They said that at least two to three sitting MPs in Delhi could be replaced in order to counter the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress which is beaming with the appointment of former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as its Delhi unit president.
Delhi BJP general secretary Rajesh Bhatia said that Sitharaman has already interacted with district unit presidents and collected their feedback on the party’s preparedness.
“The exercise is likely to be completed by the first week of March and the report will be submitted to BJP president Amit Shah thereafter,” Bhatia said.
He said Sitharaman was also leading various campaigns in the city and will be present during the live streaming of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Man ki Baat” in the first week of March.
Sources said that during the meetings in West Delhi, North West Delhi and Chandni Chowk, Sitharaman interacted with BJP councillors, sitting and former BJP MLAs, district unit presidents and booth level workers, apart from the sitting BJP MP in the respective constituencies. To assess the mood on the ground, especially among party workers, she met some workers individually and asked them to voice their concerns and put forward suggestions.
Seeking to placate disgruntled party leaders and workers, she asked them to put forward their grievances directly to her. Sitharaman told workers that the 2019 elections would be different from 2014 polls as the BJP is now tasked with highlighting the works done by the Modi government and so, a bigger responsibility lay on the grassroots workers.
Sources said that Sitharaman has asked BJP workers to refrain from negative campaign, but told them to expose the lies of the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi and how the AAP government deprived the people of Delhi benefits extended by the Central government, including the Ayushman Bharat health scheme.
Meanwhile, the popularity survey of seven BJP MPs in Delhi has been completed and the report will be submitted to Amit Shah. The survey aimed at assessing the MPs on various parameters like their popularity, works done in the constituency, their rapport with voters and party workers, accessibility and other factors.
The feedback has been collected from different party functionaries like mandal presidents, ward councillors, sitting MLAs, Lok Sabha prabharis and even councillors and legislators who lost elections in 2015 Assembly polls.