Rattled by the recent reversals in the bypolls across the county, the ruling BJP has begun damage control exercises. On one hand it is trying to ameliorate the lot of the harried middle class by reducing the taxes on petrol, diesel and the LPG gas, it is planning out strategies to woo the voters in the five states that would go to polls early next year on the other.

The BJP top brass will meet on Sunday to take stock of the preparations for the poll-bound five states – UP, Punjab, Goa, Manipur and Uttarakhand. Key leaders such as poll incharges, party unit leaders and conveners will attend this meeting. PM Narendra Modi, Party chief JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah will conduct the meeting. The meeting will review the work in progress and decide on future strategies for these five states.

The meeting is being held in the shadow of a string of reversals in Haryana, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Karnataka in the recent bypolls. The party is all but washed out in West Bengal. Even in Karnataka, it had forfeited one seat to the Congress. In Haryana, the party could not win the sole seat. Even in Rajasthan, the party had to put up with reversals. In Himachal, the party was left shell-shocked by the complete washout. It lost the sitting MP seat and all the three MLA seats. The state will go to polls early next year.

The party feels that the rising fuel prices could be one of the main reasons for the debacle. Hence, soon after the bypoll results, the fuel prices were brought down. The Centre has also taken steps to bring down the prices of the edible oils across the country. The BJP has realized that unless it does something substantial on the prices front, it is likely to lose all the important states in the polls.