BJP readies 2024 blueprint: 100 rallies by PM Modi; focus on South, Bengal, Odisha

The BJP has already launched an intense outreach initiative for women and minorities. While the Mahila Morcha has been entrusted with reaching out to women labharathis (beneficiaries) and campaigning aggressively on central schemes for women, the Minority Morcha has prepared a list of about 60 Lok Sabha constituencies in 10 states and a Union Territory where minorities comprise more than 30 per cent of the population.

BJP national president J P Nadda has constituted a committee to give the final touches to the Lok Sabha election strategy. The three-member panel of senior leaders Sunil Bansal, Vinod Tawde, and Tarun Chugh will monitor the outreach programmes conducted by different morchas and legislators, suggest changes and provide feedback to the top leadership. They are expected to recommend programmes and rallies for PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Nadda, and other star campaigners based on inputs from the states as well as morchas.

While this committee will be in charge of overall supervision, senior party leaders and ministers will be given charge of individual states. “But there will be coordination at every level as these multilayers are to ensure that micro-management is done and no angle is left unnoticed. There will not be any overlapping of work,” said a BJP functionary.

“There will be a special focus on the southern states and states such as Odisha and West Bengal,” said a party functionary.

While the BJP has been focusing on strengthening its organisation in a state such as Madhya Pradesh, where the robust party structure is expected to ensure its electoral dominance, its strategy for Telangana has been different. “Apart from the programmes to connect with people on the ground to expose the state government, the party wanted to expand its electoral support base by inducting prominent personalities belonging to different professions and sectors. The efforts will continue but at the same time the Central government’s attention on governance aspects will intensify in such states,” said a BJP leader familiar with the developments.

Sources said the party leadership was determined to win more seats in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala. “In the eastern states of Odisha and West Bengal, the BJP has to expand its gains in the Lok Sabha elections and the strategies will be different,” said the leader

In Kerala, where the BJP hopes to grow into an electoral force, a different strategy will be in place. “One attempt will be to increase the number of public programmes by central leaders, including ministers, to expose the Left and the Congress. At the same time, the party will ensure that the voters take note of Prime Minister Modi’s interests in Kerala,” said a BJP functionary. The Central government is likely to announce new projects and expenditures in Kerala, according to sources.

While addressing the victory rally at the BJP headquarters last week after the party won Tripura and returned to power in Nagaland with a regional partner, Modi used the victories in the Northeast to portray the BJP’s “stable, progressive and decisive face” to Kerala. Asserting that the BJP’s repeated wins in the Northeast had disproved allegations about the party being anti-Christian, Modi declared that a “BJP coalition would come to power in Kerala” after people “realise that the Left and the Congress have joined hands to loot the state”. He was referring to the Left-Congress alliance in the Tripura election.