Day after poll dates out, BJP top brass go into huddle

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) A day after Lok Sabha poll dates were announced, the BJP's top brass on Monday began discussing their election preparedness and strategies with party chief Amit Shah meeting office bearers and Home Minister Rajnath Singh meeting members of the manifesto committee.

The Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 while counting of votes in 543 constituencies will be taken up on May 23.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto committee, headed by Singh, met at his residence with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Ministers Radha Mohan Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav and other members attending.

The 20-member manifesto committee had set up 15 sub-committees to work on the 2019 "Sankalp Patra", or manifesto.

The BJP has already launched a campaign 'Bharat ke mann ki baat, Modi ke saath' last month to seek suggestions and voters' expectations for a "new India" from 10 crore families across the country before giving a final shape to its election manifesto for the Lok Sabha polls.

Based on public suggestions, the BJP will prepare its manifesto.

Later in the evening, BJP chief Shah also discussed poll preparedness with top party leaders and office-bearers.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also held a meeting with party spokespersons at the party headquarters.

Jaitley, one of the chief election strategists of the party, has been regularly visiting party offices and holding discussion with leaders.