BJP's New Panel To Screen Joinings Ahead Of Lok Sabha Polls

The BJP has added a new layer of filter to check the quality of leaders of other parties who approach to join the BJP, ahead of the national election to be held in a few months.

A new committee of the BJP has been formed to decide whether to allow or reject leaders who want to join the party, sources have said.

Leaders from other parties will be welcomed into the BJP only after the committee gives the green light, sources said. The committee will meet for the first time on January 6, sources said.

The BJP is said to have come up with the idea of such a committee to minimise the risk of welcoming leaders who may not turn out loyal to the party after elections, or during rough patches.

Trinamool Congress leaders Mukul Roy and Babul Supriyo, for example, had joined the BJP just before elections in West Bengal, but later returned to the party led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after it won the state election.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the BJP campaign for the national election this year, and looking to win at the Centre for a third term, the BJP wants to ensure their entire network of leaders is dedicated to the party.

Any leader from other parties who approaches to join the BJP but shows signs of reluctance or gives conditions may not pass through the filter of the new committee.

Senior BJP leaders also met today in Delhi to discuss strategies for the Lok Sabha election and the consecration of the Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya.

Union Ministers Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnav, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, and general secretaries Tarun Chugh and Sunil Bansal are at the meeting.

"Making of clusters for Lok Sabha, which was discussed in the last BJP meeting, will be reviewed in this meeting. All the issues will be listed that need to be taken into public as the highlight of BJP for Lok Sabha election 2024. This will also include pre- and post-programmes in connection with the Ram mandir consecration," a source told news agency PTI.

Rallies to be handled by senior ministers and leaders will be decided as soon as the cluster-making work is done, PTI reported.