In what was seen as a sign of things to come, Prime Minister Narendra Modi quizzed the BJP general secretaries on preparations for various Assembly elections as well as ways to retain the large number of professionals and independent volunteers who helped the party’s campaign in the Lok Sabha elections.

Modi met the 10 general secretaries, including Thawarchand Gehlot, Dharmendra Pradhan and Ananth Kumar, who have joined the Union Cabinet, over breakfast on Saturday.

“Inspired by motivational msg from Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji, at a meeting with party GSs, to serve party and nation with renewed vigour,” party general secretary Varun Gandhi tweeted after the meeting.

The PM is also likely to interact with other office bearers and party workers at the BJP headquarters on Sunday.

Three issues Although the meetings are being described as “courtesy calls” and the PM’s thanksgiving gesture to the party leaders, the three issues that were specifically discussed at the breakfast meeting were the upcoming elections as well as 12 bye-elections in Uttar Pradesh on account of MLAs being elected as MPs.

The BJP would like to sustain the momentum it got in the Lok Sabha elections, during which it won an unprecedented 71 seats on its own along with two other seats of its ally Apna Dali the State.

The second issue discussed by Modi was with regard to retaining a large number of independent professionals and volunteers who had participated in the party’s campaign. Now that the elections are over, the PM would not want this force to retreat. The general secretaries were reportedly asked to come up with suggestions to engage them in the party’s activities.

The third issue in Saturday’s meeting was to turn BJP ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay’s birth anniversary in September into a major event. Upadhyay, along with Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, was among the founder members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, and promoted the philosophy of “integral humanism”.

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