Despite people standing in long queues outside banks and ATMs a month after demonetisation of high value notes, an internal survey of Bharatiya Janata Party has projected a clear victory for the party in the coming Vidhan Sabha polls.
The survey carried out by an American agency has predicted 317 seats for the BJP if elections were held immediately. The gain is uniform in all regions of the State but western UP takes the lead and it has been predicted that the party will bag over 70 per cent seats in that region.
A senior BJP leader said that demonetisation has gone down well with the people. “They are suffering at present but have hailed the decision to cull high value notes for national interest. They know the PM’s decision was taken with an aim to end corruption. Over 90 per cent of the people are with the PM in this decision,” he said.
The BJP looks confident as three surveys, one of them carried out by an American agency, has predicted a clear majority for the party.
“The prediction of the survey has helped party to re-coin its slogan. Earlier the slogan was 265+ but now the BJP has been saying ‘ab kee baar 300 ke paar’,” the leader said.
The survey says that the party has made inroads into villages – from where reports of violent skirmishes outside banks are being reported regularly.
On Friday a bank manager in a village in Kanpur Dehat lodged a complaint with police after he was thrashed by customers as the bank ran out of cash.
“We do not deny that people are facing problems. They are not getting required cash from banks because RBI is unable to supply adequte cash. Despite these, people are with the BJP and have voiced their support. No one is questioning the intention of the PM,” the leader said and added: “People used to term the BJP as a ‘shahar ki party’ but now it has made its presence felt in rural areas too.”
In urban areas, the RSS is playing a pivotal role as it has linked demonetisation with patriotism. The message has spread through whisper campaign. The inroad in rural area is not of that magnitude.
The region wise survey says that party will do well in Bundelkhand and eastern UP but only sore point is Central UP. The BJP has lost ground there because of the influence of the Yadav clan. In western UP the survey has predicted a fight between BJP and BSP. It says Muslims are preferring BSP over SP in that area.
The survey has classified voters as per caste, religion, region and education. The upper caste educated youth is supporting teh BJP, while around 55 per cent backward castes favour the saffron pary. Even Dalits want development issues should be taken up by the party.