Amit Shah turns attention to Tamil Nadu, Pondy

Chennai: Taking time off from his preoccupation with the Uttar Pradesh election scheduled next year, BJP president Amit Shah will visit Chennai on July 10 and Puducherry the following day, to meet grassroots level workers ahead of the local body polls in October. "Shah is coming primarily to interact with the workers on the ground who will be deployed for the local body polls," said BJP state secretary Senthil Balaji.
The BJP supremo would address a "meeting of cadres only" at a venue on the Chennai outskirts, sources said.
Shah will also speak to all party candidates who contested the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly election besides booth committee chiefs to receive feedback from them.
Around 4,000 party members including district unit chiefs, are expected to attend the big meet in Chennai. Shah will use the occasion to chalk out the future course of action for the BJP in Tamil Nadu against the backdrop of the 2016 assembly election and the 2014 general elections in which the party's showing was not impressive even though it has to an extent improved its vote share.
A sore point for Shah is the failure of the BJP's missed call membership drive that set out to enroll 60 lakh members in the state but could garner less than 13 lakh members, said a party leader. "BJP is projected as gaining traction nation-wide with growing influence in various states including Kerala, but in TN it has not made any noteworthy inroads in the Dravidian bastion which must be an issue to ponder for Shah," said political analyst M Kasinathan.