The BJP on Friday appointed ministers and senior party leaders as election in-charges for four states going to the polls later this year, seeking to take a lead over the Opposition in poll preparedness.

The BJP leadership has been holding a series of closed-door meetings at the party headquarters and at the Prime Minister’s residence over the week, drawing up election strategy and finalising changes in the organisation and the government, sources said.

Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi was appointed election in-charge for Rajasthan. Former Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel and former Haryana Congress leader Kuldip Bishnoi were made co-in-charges.

Environment and labour minister Bhupender Yadav was given charge of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, with railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav as co-in-charge.

Prakash Javadekar, who was dropped as a cabinet minister in 2021, was deputed to oversee the elections in Telangana assisted by the party’s general secretary Sunil Bansal as co-in-charge. The BJP recently appointed Union minister G. Kishan Reddy as the party’s Telangana president and is going all out to make a mark in the southern state.

For Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, the charge was given to senior leader Om Mathur with health minister Mansukh Mandaviya as the co-in-charge.

Of all the four states that will go to polls towards the end of this year, the BJP is in power in just one — Madhya Pradesh. The party is eyeing to wrest Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress while retaining power in Madhya Pradesh. In Telangana, ruled by the Bharat Rashtra Samiti, the BJP is jostling with the Congress for the principal Opposition space.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in Chhattisgarh on Friday and launched a scathing attack on the Congress.

“The ideology of the Congress is corruption,” he said, accusing the party of using the state as the “ATM”. He urged the people to liberate the state from the Congress, promising not to spare the corrupt leaders.

The poll results of the four states would set the tone for the Lok Sabha elections next year when Modi will be seeking a straight third term.

Led by Modi, the top leadership of the BJP has been holding marathon strategy sessions and working out details to revamp the party machinery.

Modi held a meeting with home minister Amit Shah on Thursday and the two were later joined by Nadda.