Bengaluru: New Year has begun on a bad note for the state party leadership.  Without mincing words, the party president Amit Shah, who was in city expressed his displeasure over the state unit's poll preparation.

He also pulled up the party leaders at a meeting on Sunday.  Yhe meeting, scheduled to begin in the morning, started around 3.30 pm as his arrival was delayed by more than five hours due to fog at Delhi airport.

Shah met with members of the state unit and the district units, MPs, MLAs and outlined the strategy for the forthcoming elections.Sources said Shah was not happy with the delay in the formation of booth-level committees. “He has directed everyone to complete the formation of these committees before he returns to the city on January 9, failing which he has threatened to monitor the progress by sitting at every district centre in the State,” a source said.

Shah was also disappointed at how the state core committee was functioning and directed the members to iron out their differences.According to sources, the Prime Minister was also unhappy with the campaigning in the state, which was conveyed to the state leaders.

The controversy surrounding the Mahadayi dispute, leading to farmers protest in front of the BJP office in Bengaluru, and the controversial remarks made by some BJP MPs, were also discussed at the meetings chaired by Shah. However, Union Minister H N Ananth Kumar said Shah was happy with how Parivarthana Yatra has progressed in the state and outlined the party’s strategy to attract more votes in the 2018 elections.

Shah to be back on Jan 9:After issuing stern instructions to the party leaders, Amit Shah said he would be back on January 9 to take stock of how his instructions were being implemented. He will participate in BJP’s Parivarthana Yatra in Chitradurga on Jan 10.