Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Gopal Bhargav has said that the BJP cannot form Government third term only by making announcements and schemes of the Government. “To lure public we need to raise emotional issues,” he added.
Bhargav was speaking at the election campaign committee meeting held on Tuesday. Senior BJP leaders and members of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet expressed their views during the meet. Most of the leaders targeted the schemes of the State Government.
Senior minister of the state cabinet Gopal Bhargav said, “Our neighbouring States are also talking of development, we have also done development, but schemes and development alone cannot make us victorious in the elections. For the purpose, we would have to raise emotional issues.”
Senior leader, former chief minister and Bhopal MP Kailash Joshi said that a section of the society is annoyed with the schemes of the state government. The workers have been divided into three categories, first category is that is taking the benefit of the schemes but is not working for party, second are those who are taking advantage of schemes and are also working for the party and the third category is of that party workers that is not getting the advantage of the schemes and are angry with the party, he added.
He said, “The party workers are indulged in groupism, in these circumstances if we succeed in forming government for the record third term, then the condition of party would become like that of Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh.”
Another senior minister Narottam Mishra said, “IT campaigning alone would not make the chances, though it has its own utility, but it has no access with 90 per cent people. We would have to go for making CD of local folk artists for publicity of schemes.”
Mishra was also of the view that the Congress is maligning our image during its Parivartan Yatra and hence we should give befitting reply of that.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sudha Malaiya said that to reap electoral dividends BPl (Below Poverty level) cards should be issued for the people who still don’t have it before the Model Code of Conduct is enforced. She also said that common people are unable to get the card due to tough rules.
However, this suggestion was opposed by Manifesto Committee Chairman Vikram Verma. He was of the opinion that since the government is not able to provide the full quota of food grains to BPl card-holders it would not be able to provide food grains to the additional card-holders. He suggested that the whole matter should be left as it is.
Parliamentarian Sumitra Mahajan said that the Congress will fight elections in “do or die style”. “We should also fight it in the same way,” she said.
Rajya Sabha member Maya Singh suggested that the party should establish links with influential persons in every locality. He said that the influence exercised by such persons in the locality will help the party in reaping votes.
Minister Anup Mishra said that the leaders provide facilities to the people but bureaucrats prevent people from enjoying the benefits by picking out problems in paper work. He said that this tendency on part of the bureaucrats should be stopped.
Minister Ramkrishna Kusmaria said that anti-social elements have gained an upper hand in large areas. The minister suggested that such elements that are likely to exert influence over the voters should be identified and deported out of their respective districts.
Indore Mayor Krishna Kumari Moghe supported the idea. Mhila Morcha State President lata Vankhede said that programmes of well-known artists should be organized and senior leaders should be invited in such programmes. BJP State President Narendra Singh Tomar said that the Chief Minister will launch Jan Ashirwad Yatra on July 22 from Ujjain. Some leaders at the meeting opposed the yatra on the ground that the yatra of Mahakal is also held on the same day.
They suggested that the yatra should be taken out after two in the afternoon. However, when Tomar replied that the date and time has been fixed according to astrological observations, they relented.
After hearing all the suggestions, Anant Kumar observed that it is not the most opportune time to enter into such debates. He said that the discussion shows that there are many issues that should addressed. Urging the leaders to take up an aggressive election campaign, he said that the wrong policies and failures of the UPA government should be targeted during the election campaign.