BJP brews poll tea

Are you a doctor, lawyer, architect or business executive and couldn8217;t care less for politics? Good, chances are you are on the BJP14...

Are you a doctor, lawyer, architect or business executive and couldn8217;t care less for politics? Good, chances are you are on the BJP8217;s 8216;8216;database of 25,000 professionals8217;8217; who will be spared the heat and dust of rallies.

Come February and you will be invited to tea parties at Malabar Hill or Kalbadevi homes 8212; only for 8216;distinguished invitees8217; read professionals 8212; to discuss the state of the nation. A call from the local BJP office and gear up for an exclusive gathering to hear Sushma Swaraj or Arun Jaitley in a comfy auditorium.

In pollspeak, professionals are 8216;opinion makers8217;. Your opinion matters because it influences how family and colleagues vote and the BJP will bring you drawing room ambience to get it out of you. 8216;8216;We are very careful,8217;8217; says Atul Shukla, a CA heading BJP8217;s professional cell. It plans to hold five to 10 8216;elite gatherings8217; per Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha seat contested in Mumbai 8212; at homes and even highrise parking lots converted into temporary campaign sites.

That8217;s a gentle score over the Congress or even BJP8217;s ally Shiv Sena. 8216;8216;Our handicap,8217;8217; admits Dr Vijaya Patil, member of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee MPCC. 8216;8216;The middle class is cut off from Congress because its priority is not professionals, but rural masses.8217;8217;

But estimating a minimum of two lakh city professionals 8212; a voter base of 10 lakh when families are included 8212; the city BJP has circulated a pointer within the party: 8216;8216;To create closeness with a large professional community and our party. This class is ignored by other political parties.8217;8217;

8216;8216;In elite societies, highrises, we send only presentable party workers who can answer questions on Pakistan and the economy,8217;8217; says Shukla. The database of influentials includes secretaries of city cooperative societies. When you are aiming at raising Rs 7 crore campaign moolah for Mumbai, an elitist rapport elites even get separate pamphlets will 8216;8216;aid funding indirectly8217;8217;, party workers say.

The Sena, instead, bundles off candidates to merchants8217; chambers. 8216;8216;We request professional associations to let candidates make a speech,8217;8217; says Sena leader Subhash Desai.

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With a new party cell for doctors, BJP state general secretary Vinod Tawde says the extra effort is worth it. 8216;8216;Doctors influence patients8217; opinions, lawyers influence clients.8217;8217;

Financiers 8212; Mumbai has 30,000 CAs 8212; can expect invitations to poll campaigns labelled as seminars on stocks and taxes. In November, several hundred lawyers 8212; not all were BJP sympathisers 8212; were invited to a BJP Mulund meeting.

Health is new political agenda. Parties will definitely eye doctors. for instance, Dr Suhas Pingale, vice-president of the state Indian Medical Association, would be in demand.