Nadda spoke to 4 lakh party workers during lockdown to spearhead relief works: BJP

Overseeing the party's relief measures for the poor during the nationwide lockdown, BJP president J P Nadda has directly addressed over four lakh of its members through 70 video and 20 audio conferences, the party said on Friday.

In a recent interaction with party leaders through video conference, Nadda had said that the saffron organisation has worked harder during the lockdown than usual, as it uses its organisational machinery to supplement the Narendra Modi government's efforts to help the needy people in this crisis caused by the coronavirus.

BJP's national media head and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni said the party had adapted its work culture to the needs of the lockdown, relying heavily on technology to spearhead and monitor a host of relief activities down to the level of district and blocks.

Party workers have provided food to over five crore people and given ration kits, which have provisions for a family for one week, to one crore people under the "feed the needy" campaign, he said, claiming that never before has a political party undertaken such a massive exercise to bring meal to the needy.

Following Prime Minister Modi’' call, Nadda had also asked party workers to work to ensure that every household in a polling booth gets two face covers, and urged them to impress upon 40 people each to donate to the PM Cares Fund, which was launched by the government to raise money to boost its fight against COVID-19.

To keep the party's relief work energised and on course, the BJP president has been interacting with senior party leaders from states and central leadership on a daily basis soon after the nationwide lockdown came into force from March 25.

Office bearers, MPs and senior leaders from different states have attended these virtual meetings in which they give feedback to Nadda and share related details. Nadda's predecessor and Home Minister Amit Shah also joined one such video conference meeting recently in which leaders from his home state Gujarat were present. Shah is an MP from Gandhinagar. The BJP president also holds a daily review meeting with the party's national office bearers.

Baluni said the party has also undertaken extensive exercise to promote the download of Aarogya Setu app, which is meant to keep people informed about the coronavirus spread in their location and offers them relevant advice, to laud "corona warriors", a term for emergency workers deployed in the frontline in the fight against the pandemic.

The BJP president has directly spoken to workers from big states as well as those representing small regions like Daman and Diu, party leaders said.

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