Narendra Modi's magic at work at BJP’s parliamentary party meet, tells party leaders to use social media

NEW DELHI: The BJP should make more use of the social media to highlight the failures of the government and reach out to the youth in particular in the run-up to the general elections, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has told his party colleagues.

Modi on Tuesday attended his first meeting as a member of the BJP’s parliamentary board, where the party decided to organise agitations against the government and court arrests across the country. The weeklong programme will kick off next Monday, the party said.

“He spoke of how the party should focus on failures of the UPA and use social media and social networking in the party’s campaign…He said the way we put facts before the public using mass media can also be done through social media,” BJP leader Ananth Kumar told the media.

Modi, who is seen as the front runner for being projected the party’s prime ministerial candidate, commands a following of 1.6 million on microblogging site Twitter. He was inducted into the 12-member parliamentary board on March 31, when BJP president Rajnath Singh announced his new team, and his growing clout became evident yet again when Singh appointed his close associate Amit Shah the party’s in-charge in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.

At the meeting, held under Singh’s chairmanship, the BJP brass said the government had failed on all fronts — economic, internal security and foreign affairs — and the party should take this message to the people.

Modi suggested how the party should scrutinise the track record of the UPA government at the BJP’s national executive meeting to be held in Goa on June 8 and 9, and then take its evaluation to the people. He said the UPA’s performance should be compared with that of BJP-ruled states, a person familiar with the matter told ET.

“Shall meet Atalji in sometime, Looking forward!” Modi tweeted in the afternoon after the board meeting. Earlier, he had a 40-minute meeting with senior leader LK Advani. He had lunch with Rajnath Singh and later met available general secretaries in the BJP headquarters and spoke of his days as a party worker.

Arun Jaitley, the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, briefed leaders on talks between India and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Jaitley will hold a joint press conference on Wednesday to highlight the failures of the government.