BJP huddle on Lok Sabha polls draws up Ram Temple campaign roadmap, sets target for 303-plus seats

The panel includes Union ministers Bhupender Yadav, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ashwini Vainshnaw and Mansukh Mandaviya, party general secretaries Sunil Bansal, Vinod Tawde and Tarun Chugh besides Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The team decided to set up the party sub-committees to oversee the rolling out of its existing programmes and set up call centres for this outreach.

It discussed strategies to set the narrative and devise ways to consolidate the BJP’s votes so that the party can improve its existing tally and vote share in the upcoming polls.

BJP sources said the party leadership has set a target to cross 303 seats and 37.36% vote share which it had garnered in the 2019 polls.

With the BJP’s poll strategy to be centred around Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the thrust of the party’s campaign will be Modi as a “symbol of Hindutva, development and India’s global image”.

In the second meeting held in the afternoon, BJP president J P Nadda addressed a gathering of party leaders picked from every state – four-five from bigger states and two from smaller states – to explain to them about the party’s plans regarding the opening of the Ram Temple following its “pran pratishtha (consecration ceremony)”.

The BJP has readied a fortnight-long calendar to celebrate and campaign on the Ram Temple issue. The BJP leaders across the country have been asked to oversee the party members who would be engaged in cleaning of local temples in their areas during January14-27 for which smaller teams have to be set up and assign responsibilities.

On January 22, the day PM Modi would inaugurate the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, the BJP workers would have to see that every household light up five diyas – called “Ram Jyotis” – in the evening to celebrate the event like a Diwali.

BJP sources said the lighting of Ram Jyotis would “create an atmosphere and evoke positive emotions” in the way lakhs of holy bricks did, which were brought to Ayodhya from across the country for the Temple’s construction since 1989 when the party had launched its Ayodhya campaign.

The BJP leadership has also advised party workers to organise and assist the devotees who would visit the Ayodhya Temple from January 25 to March 25. Sources said about 50,000 pilgrims are expected to visit the newly-constructed Temple every day in the first week after January 22.

“The BJP workers from across the country should facilitate travel, accommodation and other issues for the devotees,” said a party leader, adding that the party volunteers would work “shoulder to shoulder with the RSS workers” in this regard. However, the BJP workers would be asked not to carry the party’s flags during this programme, sources said.

Nadda held another meeting of senior party leaders in the evening to discuss the induction of leaders and influencers from various Opposition parties into the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP would invite influential leaders from other parties to join its fold not just in constituencies where the ruling party does not have a strong base but in other belts too. However, it has decided to constitute a committee of senior leaders – called the joining committee – to “vet the list of inductees from different states”, sources said. This committee includes Union minister Anurag Thakur and party general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh as members, among others.