As the three-day meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) National Council began today in Kozhikode, it is the terrorist attack on an army camp in Uri that is dominating the conclave and there is tremendous anticipation over how Prime Minister Narendra Modi will respond to it in his public rally in the northern Kerala city on Saturday.
BJP leaders admitted that the meeting was taking place amidst huge pressure from the public and the party workers on the need to take strong action against Pakistan in view of the string of terror attacks, the latest being Uri.
"When the Prime Minister will speak, he will address the country's expectations. We are all waiting to hear him. The people of the country are waiting to hear him," said BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain.
He said that the NDA government had succeeded in pushing Pakistan into a corner diplomatically following the Uri attack. He said Pakistan had exposed itself with its Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif praising a terrorist at the United Nations General Assembly.
"India has replied strongly. And on the 26th, Sushma Swarajji will expose the lies of Pakistan," Hussain said.
Defending Modi, he said that the Prime Minister, by his peace initiatives, had given Pakistan a chance to normalise relations.
On the first day of the meeting, the modalities of the conclave were to be fine tuned by the office bearers under the leadership of party president Amit Shah.
Modi is scheduled to address a public rally at the Calicut beach on Saturday. He and Shah will address the conclave on Sunday.
Around 2500 delegates of the BJP are attending the meeting, which will focus on commemorating the memory of former Jan Sangh president Deendayal Upadhyay and projecting the BJP as a pro-poor party, in line with Upadhyay's philosophy.