BJP plans OBC outreach to counter opposition's caste census thrust
Nov 02, 2023
New Delhi [India], November 2 : With opposition parties laying thrust on caste census and trying to make it a big poll issue, the BJP is devising a strategy to counter their narrative with a meeting held at the party headquarters here deciding to plan a big reach out to the OBC community, sources said.
They said that BJP is "serious" about countering the opposition narrative. Bihar has held a caste survey and Congress has promised to hold caste census in various election-going states. Opposition parties are also likely to rake up the issue ahead of Lok Sabha polls next year.
"The BJP is planning a big programme to reach out to the OBC community. Party leaders will go to the members of the OBC community to tell them about the initiatives of the BJP-led government as also of the party for OBCs," a party leader said.
Sources said suggestions were taken from the leaders who attended the meeting.
They said a core committee will be formed to decide future strategy on the issue.
Sources said the meeting also discussed the issue of the Maratha reservation in Maharashtra.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief JP Nadda and party leaders BL Santosh and Vinod Tawde were among those present in the meeting.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary and party leaders BL Verma, Niranjan Jyoti, Sangam Lal Gupta and Surendra Nagar also joined the meeting.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and party leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule attended the meeting. BJP's OBC Morcha chief K Laxman was present.
Om Prakash Dhankar from Haryana and party leaders Vijay Sinha, Samrat Choudhary and Sushil Modi from Bihar were also present.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been attacking the BJP over the "lack of adequate representation of OBCs" in secretary-level posts at the Centre.
BJP leaders have said they have the highest representation of OBCs among various national parties.
