PM Modi, senior union ministers to address BJP's national council meeting in Kozhikode.
Ram Madhav, BJP general secretary, has followed up his "jaw for tooth" comment after the Uri terror attack with another strong comment that underscores the pressure the party is exerting on the government it leads at the Centre.
"Do you want only statements or do you want action? Action is happening," said Mr Madhav, who is also the BJP's points man in Jammu and Kashmir, sharpening the focus on two speeches that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make in the next two days in Kerala's Kozhikode, where the BJP is holding a strategy meet.
Mr Madhav had been asked about his comment immediately after the terrorist attack on an Army base in J&K's Uri that killed 18 soldiers. "The PM has promised that those behind the Uri terror attack will not go unpunished. That should be the way forward. For one tooth, the complete jaw. Days of so-called strategic restraint are over," he had said then.
Top party sources have confirmed that the BJP national council meeting, open to the media, will set a strong anti-Pakistan, anti-terror tone.
Party chief Amit Shah will also speak at the meeting which will be attended by all BJP leaders from the centre and states.
It will also showcase the BJP's new slogan against poverty as the party attempts to occupy the political space that the Congress appropriated for many years with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's famous "Garibi Hatao" or remove poverty battle cry.
The conclave celebrates 100th birth anniversary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay, a former chief of the Jan Sangh from which the BJP was born, and the party planned to use the meet to give a new spin to its future political strategy with the anti-poverty theme. But the agenda has changed after last weekend's attack in Uri.
Posters with the tough line on Kashmir that Deen Dayal Upadhyay propagated have been prominently placed at the venue of the conclave.
When asked about the pressure from the the BJP cadre on the Uri issue, Mr Madhav said, "We are a party of grass root workers. We understand the sentiment of the public."
PM Modi arrives in Kozhikode today and will address a public rally in the evening. He will address party workers on Sunday after the BJP national council conclave at the function to mark the party ideologue's birth anniversary.
Party chief Amit Shah will speak at the meeting on Sunday, to be attended by all BJP leaders from the Centre and states, and the conclave will feature interventions by senior union ministers like Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley.
A political resolution to be adopted at the council is expected to include the situation in Kashmir and the Uri attack. Interestingly, BJP sources say the conclave will go beyond strategising for the coming elections or contemporary politics.