It is reported from the national capital that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s frequent meetings with members of the press fraternity signal the BJP-led Centre’s intentions in opting for advancing next May’s Lok Sabha polls by a few months to hold the same later this year.

Sources, wanting to be unnamed, point out that Modi might take the nation by surprise by advancing the Lok Sabha polls (due to be held in May, 2019) by an year to conduct them soon after the conclusion of the Budget Session of Parliament. In order to keep himself in ‘constant touch’ with the print and television media, the Prime Minister has been consciously meeting them quite frequently of late, they added.

It may be recalled that the ‘Modi wave’ swept the BJP to power at the Centre in 2014 when the BJP won a majority on its own in Lok Sabha for the first time in its history. Amid criticism in the media of his frequent foreign tours, Modi has been meeting newsmen regularly for the past few months, which has given rise to the thought that ‘there is no smoke without fire’.

Recent surveys by private parties indicated a dip in the BJP’s popularity while Modi’s popularity remained to be intact despite his ‘demonetization’ drive and the introduction of the uniform tax regime ‘GST’. It is rumoured that senior party leaders have advised Modi to opt for ‘flash polls’ to make hay when the ‘BJP’ shines.