BJP’s central leadership is taking people’s feedback for deciding its candidates for the Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh.
Having put the ruling Congress on the backfoot on a number of issues in recent months, the saffron party is moving fast on finalising its strategy for the Assembly polls, just about three months away from now.
Sources in Himachal BJP said party president Amit Shah has been getting a survey conducted in Himachal Pradesh on winning prospects of the potential candidates of the party. And the candidates for the Assembly elections would be based on the results of this survey.
Extra efforts would be made in segments and region where the party is found to be on a weak footing.
Party is also alive to the possible adverse impact of GST particularly in the urban areas. Himachal Pradesh elections being the first Assembly elections after the implementation of GST, the poll results would be the first public response to the implementation of GST and BJP wants to leave no scope for any slip in the hill State.
This is not the first survey, and surveys being conducted by the BJP high command were discussed in details in the meeting of core group of State BJP recently held in Chandigarh.
Former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, former Union minister and party stalwart Shanta Kumar, Union Health Minister Jagat Prakesh Nadda and party incharge Mangal Panday and BJP state President Satpal Singh Satti were the main leaders who attended the two day core group meeting.
Talking about the meeting, Party president Satpal Satti said that assembly polls were discussed in the meeting, but there was nothing specific as of now. He said the process for final selection of the candidates would start once the code of conduct came into effect in the state.
Sources said that the core group discussed the result of the surveys conducted about the possible leadership of party, major political issues and trends making rounds in the political circles and suitable candidate for the party.
After the recent administrative goof ups in Himachal Pradesh and the growing internal strife in Congress, the BJP has gained confidence of achieving its ‘Mission 50 plus’ quite comfortably. The final strategy of the party for the assembly elections is most likely to come out, when Amit Shah holds a rally in Kangra on September 22.
BJP is also considering taking advantage of the in the senior leadership of Congress. The core group is also said to have contemplated on the infighting within Congress especially between State Congress chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
The Core group also apparently discussed the potential impact of the Dera Sacha Sauda episode on state politics. Some of the leaders in the party were of the view that the violence that followed the conviction of Dera Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim might have some adverse impact on BJP’s prospects in the state.