Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah has asked the party's Rajya Sabha members to each take up a constituency where the saffron party lost in the 2014 general elections, and work for the region to ensure a victory in the 2019 polls, PTI reported. The idea was likely mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to NDTV.

After Wednesday's meeting, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said Shah also asked the 52 Rajya Sabha legislators to use their MP Local Area Development funds of Rs 5 crore for the constituencies from the state they represent in the House, which will, in turn, help the party grow. He told the MPs that they should help spread the party's base and ideology. The MPs include Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Manohar Parrikar and Javadekar himself, among others.

This comes only days after Modi met chief ministers from states where the BJP is in power and told them to work towards the goal of highlighting the National Democratic Alliance government's pro-poor policies. Shah was also present at the meetings that were attended by senior leaders and party workers.