Union Home Minister Amit Shah has formally kicked off the BJP’s campaign preparations for the next Punjab Assembly elections, asking party leaders to gear up for contests in all 117 seats and intensify outreach efforts across the state.
At a strategy meeting in New Delhi on Friday night, chaired by Shah and BJP national president Nitin Nabin, the party leadership told the Punjab unit to prepare aggressively for the electoral battle and strengthen its presence at the grassroots level.
According to sources, Shah urged party workers to take the BJP’s message to towns and villages and work towards winning the confidence of the people.
“Punjab cannot be left to its fate, it has to be saved and restored to its old glory,” Shah is learnt to have told party leaders during the two-hour meeting at the BJP headquarters.
Punjab’s economic challenges, mounting debt, the drug menace, law-and-order concerns, religious conversions and declining soil health figured prominently in the discussions. Leaders reportedly stressed the need to rescue the state from what they described as an “economic morass”.
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The issue of expanding the BJP’s acceptance among voters also came up, with Shah and Nabin emphasising the need for cadres to engage directly with the public and strengthen the party’s narrative on governance and development.
Sources said Shah cited the BJP’s governance record in states such as Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh and argued that Punjab required a “double-engine government” more than most states.
The meeting also marked the beginning of a wider BJP outreach programme in Punjab. Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is scheduled to visit Amritsar, while Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is expected to visit the state later as part of the campaign.
Nitin Nabin is also scheduled to tour Punjab from June 20 to 22, visiting Ludhiana and Amritsar and participating in Yoga Day events in border areas.
Before the meeting, Shah held discussions with Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria on the state's prevailing situation and key challenges.
Senior BJP leaders from Punjab, including Kewal Dhillon, Sunil Jakhar, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Tarun Chugh and Manpreet Singh Badal, attended the meeting along with RSS functionaries overseeing the party’s organisational work in the state.
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