New DelhiWith Union ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failing to submit reports on the constituencies assigned to them, Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday sent a brief message, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to the people The appeal can help win elections, but if organizational strength is found to be lacking, the BJP may not be able to fully capitalize on the appeal, ThePrint has learned.
Shah said this during a brainstorming session of party leaders, which he was leading along with BJP president JP Nadda. The meeting took place in the backdrop of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Attempt To create opposition unity for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In May, after a meeting between PM Modi and his council of ministers, it was decided to identify the constituencies where the BJP needs to strengthen its hold. These were then divided into clusters, and a minister was placed in charge for each cluster.
Seventy senior party leaders and Union ministers, including Smriti Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan, Piyush Goyal, Bhupendra Yadav, Anurag Thakur, Narendra Singh Tomar, Jitendra Singh and S Jaishankar, were put in charge of 144 constituencies. BJP was defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Union ministers were tasked to spend at least 48 hours to three days every month in and through each constituency Migrant (travel) prepare a report on what the party can do to win these seats in the 2024 parliamentary elections.
Party sources say the ministers were expected to conclude their journey and submit their reports by August 31, while only 32 have managed to do so, adding that the ministers have time till September to complete the exercise. has given.
Ashwini Vaishnav, the Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology, who was given the charge of the Bijnor, Nagina and Saharanpur constituencies of Uttar Pradesh – where Muslims make up more than 40 per cent of the population according to the 2011 Census – told ThePrint, “Despite having tough seats, we” [the party] Discussed the right strategy to win these seats.”
“We have to reach out to more sections of the population who are beneficiaries of ‘double engine government’ (a reference to BJP governments at the Center and in UP) to ensure victory in these seats.”
Vaishnav was among the ministers who gave their reports on time.
Another Union minister to complete the assignment is Arjun Munda, who holds the tribal affairs portfolio. He was made in-charge of Kendujhar, Bhadrak and Jajpur constituencies of Odisha. All these seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) candidates and are held by Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
“These seats were lost by a narrow margin and can be won by increasing the strength of our party here,” Munda said. “We can strengthen our booths and reach out to the beneficiary voters. My experience was very encouraging. People have expectations from the Prime Minister.”
According to a senior BJP leader, Union Minister Amit Shah is directly monitoring the exercise going on for the last three months.
second round of Migrant It is scheduled to start in October and is likely to continue till January.
The BJP is also focusing on 74,000 party booths, and has tasked MLAs and MPs to strengthen 25 and 100 booths, respectively.
In 2014, the BJP had launched Mission 272 (its target for that election), but it was successful. Victory 282 out of 543 seats. In 2019, it launched Mission 359 Plus, but Won 302 only.
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‘Balance organizational work and ministerial responsibilities’
Review meeting held on Tuesday after the first phase Migrant And the report – which discussed the profile of their groups, their caste structure, the status of the strengthening exercise for vulnerable booths – as well as an overall strategy to win the constituencies.
It was attended by over 25 Union ministers including Shah, Nadda and BJP general secretary (organisation) BL Santosh as well as Smriti Irani, Bhupendra Yadav, Giriraj Singh, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Purushottam Rupala.
Party sources said Shah and Nadda questioned why ministers who had not submitted their reports failed to visit their respective constituencies and asked them not to take party work lightly.
“They (ministers) are well-known faces and people are related to them, so it is important that they take the lead in reaching out to the voters and inform them about the work being done by the Modi government. This will only help in taking the party further,” said a second party leader.
During the meeting, sources said, targets were set for comprehensive planning for each Lok Sabha constituency based on SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis – to identify and resolve administrative issues; Connecting with voters and meeting beneficiaries of government schemes; to identify new voters; who are specially-abled, migrants and women; and community activities such as cleaning lakes, planting saplings or participating in blood donation camps.
Each minister was asked to spend two to three days a month in the constituency for which activities were identified. He was directed to meet the members of the core group committee. group Speakers, booth presidents and influential people in the constituency create an atmosphere of discussion by visiting religious places like major temples and gurudwaras.
Both Nadda and Shah apprised the ministers that along with fulfilling their ministerial responsibilities, the organizational work of the party should be done simultaneously.
“The message to the ministers was very clear, that organizational work should also be their priority, and without strengthening the organisation, the party will not be able to repeat its success. There is no party without the backbone of a strong organisation. They have to learn to balance organizational work and their responsibilities as ministers,” said the second leader.
While seven Union ministers – Smriti Irani, Dharmendra Pradhan, Ajay Bhatt, Jyotiraditya Scindia, RK Singh, Jitendra Singh and Rameshwar Teli – have been posted in constituencies of West Bengal, the BJP has also identified 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in UP. (where the party is in power in the state government), which is held by the opposition parties and where it must win in 2024.
One of these is Rae Bareli, the stronghold of Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi, where Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been made in-charge. Meanwhile, Union Minister Jitendra Singh is handling Mainpuri, the stronghold of Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde is looking after the seats in South India, while National Secretary Harish Dwivedi has been assigned 39 seats in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra has been allotted seats in Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and the northeastern states.
BJP is working to register its presence at the booth level by reaching out to the beneficiaries of centrally sponsored schemes. While majority of the 144 seats comprise the party’s defeat in 2019, there are some that the party has won but may prove difficult in 2024 due to demographic and regional factors.
During their visits, the ministers were expected to see how the central schemes were being implemented, take feedback from local units and find out the challenges, if any, faced in the implementation process.
According to a third senior BJP leader, many state units have been insisting that the central government is creating hurdles in the implementation of central schemes in states where the BJP is not in power.
(Edited by Polomi Banerjee)
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