BJP leaders on Sunday got a clear message from their top brass to ‘activate’ the foot soldiers to achieve the ambitious target of winning 272 plus seats in the coming lok Sabha elections.
Party seniors were not averse to extensive use of technology driven campaign, but cautioned that it should not overshadow the exercise of having active workers at booths, who would bring voters out of their homes.
At a meeting of party’s campaign committee of National and State-level office bearers, the Central leaders laid special emphasis on how the party should reach out to the common man through personal contact programmes.
BJP Election Campaign Committee chief Narendra Modi emphasised on the need to bring voters to polling booths and said the party workers should meet this challenge. He also said there was a need to strengthen the support base and increase it further.
leader of the Opposition in the lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj pointed out that each booth has approximately 1,000 voters, which means roughly 200 families. She said the workers should adopt at least 10 such families and reach out to them in seven rounds.
“They should first start with introducing themselves to the families, then getting all eligible members enrolled as voters. Keep in constant touch. Become a part of their family so much so that they commit themselves to voting for the BJP,” she said. BJP leader lK Advani also shared with the party leaders his experience of a lok Sabha election in the 60s.
He had visited homes of voters so many times that at one point they told him with folded hands that they would vote for the Jan Sangh (previous avatar of the BJP) but he should not come again. “I am sure of a record victory for the BJP if our leaders do hard work,” Advani said.
Modi also underscored the need for tapping the young and first time voters who, he said, are restless for a change. The Gujarat CM also suggested party leaders not to give up hope on Scheduled Caste and Minority voters and try to ensure that BJP gets their vote. At one point he even pointed out that if BJP in Gujarat could get nearly 25 per cent votes then why can it not achieve it at the National level. He also said the party needs to implement its plans effectively in the coming 200 days.
BJP chief Rajnath Singh asked party leaders not to get satisfied only with the fact that BJP would be the single largest party. “Set the target of getting 272 plus seats in elections. You can achieve it through hard work,” he said. Modi even insisted that the target was very much achievable.
Singh passed a virtual gag order on State units not to pass any resolution demanding that Narendra Modi be declared the prime ministerial candidate and announced that a decision on the issue will be taken after consulting all top leaders.
leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley pointed out to party leaders that there were at least 323 lok Sabha seats that the BJP has won on its own at any point of time.
The meeting also gave special attention to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi where the party has stakes in the forthcoming Assembly elections. The State unit presidents of these States presented their report cards of the work done and the progress made so far. BJP sources said election campaign committees for these States are likely to be announced soon.
Buoyed by the “success” of Modi’s recent rally at Hyderabad, BJP is planning to hold more public meetings of the Gujarat Chief Minister in the southern States to reach out to the people there. The Hyderabad rally was also discussed during the meeting.
BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said the party has also decided to hold ‘lok Sabha sammelans’ in all the parliamentary constituencies to garner support for Modi. The plan is to hold these meetings by the end of September-October as the elections could be held at any point of time and the party should remain prepared, Naidu said.