BJP to hold two-day OBC convention in Patna

Party’s eight-point programme will be highlighted

BJP chief Amit Shah will attend the meet.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s Other Backward Classes Morcha is organising a two-day national convention in Patna on February 15-16, which will be attended, among others, by party chief Amit Shah. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was also supposed to attend, had to pull out of the programme owing to the Jaish-e-Mohammed attack on CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday.

State BJP leaders said the party’s eight-point programme would be the highlight of the event. “The purpose of the convention is to create awareness among OBC voters about the welfare schemes and measures taken up by the Narendra Modi government. The eight-point programme, which includes grant of constitutional status to the OBC Commission and constitution of a commission for classification of castes under OBC, would be the highlight of the convention,” said State Agriculture Minister Prem Kumar.

State BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand told journalists that about 5,500 OBC delegates from different parts of the country would attend the convention.

The BJP president will be the main speaker at the concluding session. Apart from him, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP national general secretary (organisation) Ram Lal, party’s Bihar in-charge Bhupendra Yadav, party’s OBC Morcha national president Dara Singh Chouhan, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya and State party leaders like Sushil Kumar Modi and Nityanand Rai will attend the convention.

PM visit

A day after the convention, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too would visit Bihar on February 17 to lay the foundation stone for the Patna Metro and several other projects.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the State again on March 3 to address a NDA rally in Patna. Leaders of three NDA constituents — BJP, Janata Dal (United) and Lok Janshakti Party — would address the rally. “Like U.P., Bihar too is an important State for any national party in the Lok Sabha elections, so we are kicking off our programme early to reach out to the voters in time,” said a senior State BJP leader.