20,000 booth-level workers to be trained to reach out to 10 crore families for ‘one vote and one note’
A war-ready BJP on Tuesday blew the poll bugle with announcement to launch a nationwide ‘Modi for PM’ campaign that would see party workers reaching out to 10 crore families seeking, both, votes and notes.
In a meeting here, the BJP’s Parliamentary Board approved a two-pronged electoral
strategy that would see an aggressive mass campaigning by its PM candidate and mass mobilisation.
For the next two months, the BJP will hold a conference of its booth-level workers in nearly 450 lok Sabha constituencies. Each lok Sabha conference would be attended by 15,000-20,000 booth-level workers of the BJP. They would be trained in methodology to reach out to people with appeal for ‘one vote and one note’. Under the slogan, BJP workers will approach people to seek donations ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 1,000.
The party drew a parallel between the current “anti-Congress” mood and the post-Emergency poll, which saw the Congress tasting defeat in a national election for the first time.
“It was a watershed year. Nobody thought the Opposition could garner so many votes. The recent Assembly election results show that BJP stands head and shoulders above its rivals,” BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar told reporters after the meeting of Parliamentary Board, which was also attended by five Chief Ministers of the party.
Party leaders adopted a resolution stating that the results of the Assembly polls were a referendum that a Government has to perform or perish. The party has only one target — of getting 272-plus seats in lok Sabha polls. The main Opposition is also looking to cash in on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday on Wednesday by celebrating it as Sushashan Diwas (Good Governance Day).
BJP leaders, however, felt AAP’s show in Delhi underscores the need to take effort to avoid a split in anti-Congress votes. Also, they argued that the BJP’s vote share needs to be closer to that of the Congress to unseat the present regime.
The Congress polled a little over 4 crore votes more than the BJP in 2009 election and the BJP plans not only to bridge this gap but surpass its best ever performance in 1998 when it polled over 9.42 crore votes. In 1998, the Congress got only eight lakh votes more than the BJP.
Modi told members of the Central Election Campaign Committee that difference between the two parties was a meager 89 lakh votes on seats where the Congress stood first and the BJP second.
“Nearly 12 crore new voters will be enrolled before the lok Sabha polls. We need to tap most of them. They are the key to formation of a BJP government at the Centre,” Modi said.
Members of the campaign committee admitted that nearly 120 days were left for the election and 60 days of its should be spent on campaigning while remaining equal number of days would be dedicated on electioneering.
“BJP has become a symbol of good governance. Results of the recent elections have reinforced it. We will get more than 272 seats on our own. Party leaders were given the task to achieve that target,” BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.