BJP workshops for OBC leaders

With an eye on Lok Sabha poll, one training session in each State planned

Muralidhar Rao. File photo: V. Sreenivasa Moorthy

With an eye on the next Lok Sabha poll, the BJP will organise training workshops across the country for its leaders from backward castes and other backward class morchas. The focus will be 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 expand 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. 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. It was addressed by party general secretary Muralidhar Rao.

‘Cong., Left failed’

“Both the Congress and the Left parties have failed to empower the backward and downtrodden sections. Their influence among them has significantly diminished with the arrival of Narendra Modi on the national scene,” Mr. Rao said.

The BJP has emerged as a party with a national footprint and following among all sections, he said. 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, he claimed.

Asserting that there is goodwill among OBCs after the BJP tried to give constitutional status to the backward classes commission, Mr. 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 and raising the creamy layer ceiling, will be highlighted, leaders who were present in the meeting said.